Medical training place shortfall sends students overseas
One of Australia’s leading medical academics says international medical students are likely to head back overseas because of a shortage of training positions and uncertainty regarding achieving residency status.
University of Wollongong Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health), Professor Don Iverson, said despite a shortage of doctors in rural and remote areas federal and state authorities are failing to keep up with demand for training positions for graduates of Australian medical schools.
Students at the University of Wollongong’s Graduate School of Medicine are selected on the basis of demonstrated attachment to regional, rural or remote areas. It is the only medical school in Australia that requires all students to have a 1-year clinical placement outside the major cities.
Professor Iverson says overseas trained doctors will inevitably be required to help meet workforce shortages in Australia’s non-metropolitan areas as they are in the US, Canada and the UK.
“However, at the same time more needs be done to encourage local and international students who are trained in Australia to work in regional, rural and remote areas to help overcome the critical shortages,” Professor Iverson said.
Currently, more than 15 per cent of medical students are from overseas and many would stay in Australia if state and Commonwealth policies encouraged and facilitated them to do so, he said.
“In many cases these locally trained doctors are discriminated against (compared with their peers) in internship opportunities and subsequent opportunities to enter into general practice or specialty training.
“These students could make a significant contribution towards the resolution of the medical workforce problem, and there would be no concern regarding their ability to practice medicine here as all of their training has occurred in an Australian accredited program.”
“Our medical school alone over a 4-year period would produce at least 24 graduates who want to continue training and then practice in Australia. It is a tragedy losing the services of these potentially valuable contributors to our national medical resource,” Professor Iverson said.
Professor Iverson called on authorities to act to secure the long-term services of these highly qualified local graduates.
