The interns have just completed their medical degree and have now commenced a 12-month internship as the final component of their training.

The internship will see the doctors, who are originally from Sydney, complete ‘hands-on’ training at four hospitals during the year-long program.

Bathurst Hospital general manager Sue Patterson said the interns will rotate through medical, surgical, emergency, intensive care, pediatrics, and rehabilitation during their three-month stay at the hospital.

She said rural hospitals offer a more diverse range of patient cases compared to metropolitan hospitals.

“They [intern doctors] need a broader range of skills [in rural areas],” Ms Patterson said. 

Intern Dr Asif Jalal said all six interns chose to come to a hospital in the Western NSW region due to the wide variety of cases that they will be able to treat.

“It’s good you get to experience the whole hospital,” he said of the internship program.

Intern Dr Jaffar Hosain is currently placed with the hospital’s orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Lachlan Host, and he said he has seen first-hand the benefits this new department has brought Bathurst residents.

“I’ve never had experience at a rural facility and so far the experience has been great,”  he said.

The internship is so ‘hands-on’ that two of the intern doctors, Ashraf Usman and Swati Dharmaraj, were caught up treating patients when the Western Advocate arrived to meet them.

Ms Patterson said the internships are a benefit to the hospital and the doctors.

“They [interns] get to experience rural healthcare and the lifestyle out here,” she said.

Member for Bathurst Paul Toole was among those to welcome the interns and said: “It’s great to welcome a new group of fresh faces to this outstanding program.”

“Not only do the students benefit from the excellent training from physicians in our area, but patients are also receiving extra care as a result of the training process.”

In 2017, 992 interns will start at hospitals around the state - up from 983 in 2016.