BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 1052 FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2018
New on the job WITH eight years of training already under their belt, 40 junior doctors are starting medical specialty training at Bendigo Health, where senior medical staff hope they will stay. – Story Page 7
HEALTHY START: Junior doctor Nadishi Athulathmuali with chief medical officer Humsha Naidoo.
SCHOOL’S OUT Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
By SHARON KEMP
AUSTRALIA’S peak medical body wants to give preference to regional students seeking to study medicine but does not want any more medical schools. Upping the ante, medical school proponent La Trobe University will commit to an 80 per cent minimum intake of rural, regional and indigenous students if its plans get the go ahead. The Australian Medical As-
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But push on for rural med students
sociation has released a position statement calling for one third of new medical students to come from rural backgrounds. But in what may amount to a pre-emptive strike against a funding commitment from rural health minister Bridget McKenzie for a new medical school with a campus in Bendigo, the association said no
further undergraduate places were needed. La Trobe and Charles Sturt University have proposed building an undergraduate medical school with campuses in three regional cities, including Bendigo. The proposed school has been pitched as a solution to the underrepresentation of doctors in
Speeding still an issue – Page 5
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regional areas. “While the AMA’s approach is a step in the right direction, we believe improved health outcomes for rural and regional Australians can be better achieved by establishing a dedicated, rurally-focused medical school,” a La Trobe spokesperson said yesterday. The AMA said Australia was fac-
ing an oversupply of doctors. “Targeted initiatives to increase the size of the rural medical, nursing and allied health workforce are what is required,” AMA president Michael Gannon said. “More than three quarters of locally trained graduates lived in capital cities and Australia needed to reduce its reliance on international medical graduates that make up more than 40 per cent of the rural medical workforce.
44-page Property Guide inside
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