Charles Sturt University and La Trobe are seeking approval for a new medical school at Orange, Bendigo and Wagga Wagga campuses to allow students the opportunity to study medicine without moving to the city.

However, RDAA president Dennis Pashen said there needed to be more than just building the regional schools.

"You're probably just increasing the number of medical graduates. You need to follow the evidence for what actually works," he said.

Professor Pashen said there were additional known factors, such as growing up in rural areas and interning in country towns, that directly link to doctors remaining in the bush.

He said every positive experience medical students had in rural areas increased the likelihood they would remain there to work.

The RDAA has frequently stressed the importance for medical graduates to be offered the opportunity to train in rural areas.

"The Rural Doctors Association are trying to make a pathway from university to graduation to practice," Professor Pashen said.

"With the increasing numbers of medical school graduates, rural training places must be allocated to those applicants who have a genuine interest in rural practice and in obtaining the necessary skills to effectively care for their communities."

Professor Pashen said there was a maldistribution between doctors in the city compared to the country.

"We don't need to produce any more medical graduates but there's a maldistribution of people who are coming through," he said.

"In metropolitan areas we have often one doctor for 300 head of population, in regional areas it's one doctor to 3-4,000 head of population."

He said the lack of doctors in rural areas means those who were working there quickly burnt out.

Professor Pashen said medical graduates looking to work in regional areas needed specialised training in areas such as emergency medicine to ensure they could meet the health needs of the community.