Extra medical students welcomed as first step

DATE: 23 August 2007

SUBJECT: Extra medical student places welcomed as first step

The New Zealand Medical Association has welcomed the increase in medical student numbers for next year announced by the Government.

“The NZMA has long called on the Government for action to help solve medical workforce problems, and this increase in student numbers is a step in the right direction,” said NZMA Chairman Dr Peter Foley.

The new students will be taken on under the existing capacity of the medical schools. “We look forward to further expansion of capacity in our medical schools so we can have more significant increases in medical student numbers in the near future,” Dr Foley said.

Forty more medical students are to be trained each year, taking the total number of first year medical students to 365 at the Otago and Auckland medical schools next year.

“This announcement is a victory for commonsense, as New Zealand needs to move along the pathway towards the sustainability of our medical workforce,” said Dr Foley.

The NZMA has been at the forefront of advocating for increased medical student numbers, and promotes the sustainability of the medical workforce.

“Well-trained doctors are an international commodity, and health is a global market. Therefore, it is vital that New Zealand trains and retains enough doctors to meet its needs without having to rely heavily on those it attracts to work here from overseas,” Dr Foley said.

At present, around 40 percent of doctors working in New Zealand trained overseas. In the year to 20 June 2006, the Medical Council of New Zealand registered 315 NZ-trained doctors, and 1270 who trained overseas, which shows our reliance on those from overseas.

ENDS

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