Medical Students Release Election Priorities
28 July 2010
The Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) today released its Elections Priorities for the 2010 Federal Election.
President of AMSA Ross Roberts-Thomson said that political parties need to look to improve Australia's medical training system in some key areas, namely:
Quality Training and Supervision
"Medical schools around the country are telling us that domestic medical places are under-funded and consequently full fee paying international students are required to subsidise medical education in Australia.
"AMSA calls on political parties to increase the commonwealth contribution for medical students as a matter of urgency," said Mr Roberts-Thomson.
Clinical Capacity and Workforce
"While we have seen some increases in the number of training places available able for medical graduates, much more work is needed. Over 1000 more medical students will graduate medicine in 2012 compared with 2009 and a significant investment in post-graduate training places is required to avoid the impending bottle neck and so the community can receive the full benefit from the previous increase in medical student numbers.
"It is imperative that medical student numbers are not increased further until robust workforce modelling and planning has been done," said Mr Roberts-Thomson.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
"There is a severe under-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students studying health degrees.
"AMSA calls on political parties to commit to a set national targets for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders health student recruitment and retention and use best practice models already available to increase the numbers" said Mr Roberts-Thomson.
Rural and Remote Medicine
"Patients in rural and remote Australia suffer from a chronic shortage of doctors. It is crucial that political parties focus on getting medical graduates into rural and remote areas.
"AMSA calls for political parties to reject Bonded Medical Places and expand positive rural recruitment and retention strategies to get doctors to the country" said Mr Roberts-Thomson.
More detail on these and other AMSA Election Priorities can be found by visiting http://www.amsa.org.au/news/election-2010
