CALARE MP Andrew Gee has pre-empted a lack of funding for a rural medical school in Tuesday night’s Federal Budget by again pitching the proposal’s merits to parliament.
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Mr Gee’s “update” to fellow MPs on the campaign to establish the Murray Darling Medical School came just hours before Treasurer Scott Morrison rose to deliver a Budget that again failed to fund the plan.
The proposed school is a joint initiative of Charles Sturt University and La Trobe University to train doctors in regional centres in a bid to ease doctor shortages in the bush.
Mr Gee said studies showed that fewer than 10 per cent of the young doctors trained in big-city universities would move to the country to practise after graduating.
“The current system is not working, because the model is flawed,” Mr Gee said.
“A recently released report prepared by PPB Advisory showed that the Murray Darling Medical School graduates would be four-times more likely to practise medicine in the regions.
“The same report has found that the Murray Darling Medical School would be three to five-times more cost-efficient in terms of Commonwealth-supported places expenditure than metropolitan universities in training doctors who will work in the bush.”
Mr Gee said the same PPB report found the Murray Darling Medical School would provide around 90 new doctors each year.
“The Murray Darling Medical School would improve health outcomes for country Australia and bring around $2 billion in additional benefits to the Murray-Darling region,” he said.
“The closed shop needs to be opened. The time for the Murray Darling Medical School has come.”
