Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann has welcomed the strong support of Independent Candidate for the federal seat of Indi Ms Cathy McGowan for a Murray Darling Medical School (MDMS).

 

Professor Vann said northern Victoria continued to face serious shortages of locally trained GPs, including in smaller towns and communities across Indi.

 

“Rural and regional students from our communities continue to be seriously underrepresented in medical education,” he said.

 

"It is unacceptable that rural and regional people represent more than 30 per cent of the Australian population, but only 20 per cent of all medical students, domestic and international, are from rural and regional areas.”

 

Charles Sturt and La Trobe universities have proposed to address rural doctor shortages by establishing a new, regionally-based medical school in the heart of the Murray Darling Basin.

 

Professor Vann said the school would give rural and regional students better access to medical education locally, with a guarantee that 80 per cent of students would come from rural, regional and Indigenous backgrounds.

 

“Currently, fewer than 10 per cent of all medical graduates move into rural practice,” he said.  

 

"When we take into account the urgent need for more doctors across rural and regional Australia, and the generally poorer levels of health of rural and regional people, it is clear that we need to significantly grow the number of genuinely rural and regional students studying medicine in this country.

 

"When fully operational, the Murray Darling Medical School will enroll at least 144 of our new medical students, or 80 percent, every year from rural, regional and Indigenous backgrounds and they will receive their education and training in rural and regional Australia.  

 

“We welcome the support of Ms McGowan for this important initiative for our communities, and look forward to working with her in the future in any capacity to make this school a reality,” Professor Vann said.

 

Ms McGowan said she supported rural medical training as “one of the best ways to get health professionals working in rural areas.

 

“While there are lots of new doctors training, there is not much to suggest they will come and work in areas where we need them most, as GPs in country towns,” she said.

 

“We desperately need governments to support innovation in rural health services. The old ways aren't working for rural communities.

 

“There is great promise in the proposed MDMS model of training interdisciplinary care teams of nurses and allied health professionals, as well as doctors, all in a rural setting.

 

“I also believe there should be a strong role for Albury-Wodonga in the Murray Darling Medical School."