The Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) is today pleased to reassure medical students and the Queensland community that there are no immediate plans to sell intern places in Queensland.
AMSA was shocked to read reports in the Courier Mail suggesting that the Queensland Government was considering selling intern places to international medical graduates.
However, AMSA President Ross Roberts-Thomson has spoken with Queensland Health and has been assured that there are no current or future plans to sell internships to International Full Fee Paying medical graduates from Queensland universities.
“To its credit, the Queensland Government has significantly increased intern training capacity in recent years to accommodate the significant increase in medical student numbers.
“However, the fact remains that the Government has refused to explicitly guarantee intern positions will be available for all graduates from Queensland medical schools. Without this guarantee, the Queensland community will not receive the full benefit from the recent increase in medical student numbers,” Mr Roberts-Thomson said.
AMSA calls on the Queensland Government to guarantee that every locally trained doctor will be given the opportunity to complete an internship in their graduating state.
Further, both the Queensland Government and the state’s medical schools need to work together to ensure that the number of students accepted into Queensland medical courses can be accommodated as interns by the state’s healthcare system.
Media Contact Sam Kirchner: publicrelations@amsa.org.au
