Universities are welcoming the federal government expansion of places for regionally-trained medical students, under a new program which looks to address the state's lack of county doctors.
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An additional 80 Commonwealth supported places for regional medical students has been promised by 2024 under a $114.2 million investment from the federal government, Health minister Mark Butler has announced.
The move looks to increase the supply of rurally trained doctors entering the workforce, and hopefully improve the standard of care available to regional communities.
Universities with existing medical schools, or partnerships with existing medical schools, are eligible to apply for the additional Commonwealth places.
This includes universities such as Deakin or Melbourne, who have previously trained groups of medical students in Ballarat.
Deakin University school of medicine Dean Professor Gary Rogers said there had already been strong local interested in the scheme.
"There is no doubt that we need a very significant increase in the number of domestic medical training places across Australia, especially in rural areas," Professor Rogers said.
"Approximately half of the medical graduates who are registered in Australia each year currently undertook their medical training overseas and even with this massive importation of doctors there still is a substantial shortage of doctors in regional areas and in certain specialties.
"We have good evidence from our own figures to show that people who come from a rural area, and then undertake their training rurally are up to seven times more likely to practice rurally."
Deakin University is one of three, alongside the University of Melbourne and Norte Dame, to have students placed at the Ballarat Clinical School, operating out of Grampians Health.
The university planned to capitalise on the program to boost student placements in Ararat and Warrnambool - where it expanded its course offering in March to allow students to complete the first year of their medical degree.
Deakin currently has about 50 students studying in Ballarat through its Rural Clinical School and its new Rural Training Stream, which began last year, recruits students from rural and regional backgrounds who have an interest in practicing rural medicine and commitment to training in a rural clinical school.
"We hope this scheme will support our plan to offer 15 places in our Doctor of Medicine program from Ararat and 15 from Warrnambool from 2024," Professor Rogers said.
The fund will also include up to $82 million to invest in rural medical school infrastructure.
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