The Rural Doctors Association of NSW (RDA NSW) said NSW Health must urgently reverse what they describe as an “appalling decision” that will see medical students from NSW, who are studying medicine at the Australian National University in Canberra, unable to secure internship positions at rural NSW hospitals.
RDA NSW president, Dr Tilak Dissanayake, said he was “extremely disappointed” that NSW Health were refusing to guarantee rural internships for these students.
“Given the critical shortage of doctors right across rural NSW, it is astonishing that NSW Health will not guarantee these internship positions to NSW-origin medical students studying at the ANU—many of whom are crying out to undertake their internships in rural NSW, not in Sydney” Dr Dissanayake said.
“Many of the students studying medicine at the ANU are from NSW—in fact, of the last three intakes, 37 per cent, 45 per cent and 46 per cent listed a NSW address as their home address on application.
“These regions would dearly love to see ANU medical students return to their communities to undertake their internships and help meet local doctor shortages, and many of the students would love to return to the practices and communities that have supported them during their training—so the only barrier between the rural communities and the medical students themselves seems to be NSW Health,” Dr Dissanayake said.
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