But project proponents, Charles Sturt University (CSU) and La Trobe University, have pledged to continue pushing for the Murray Darling Medical School (MDMS) that would set up campuses at Bendigo, Orange and Wagga Wagga.

Eighty per cent of enrolments in the mooted school would be reserved for rural, regional and Indigenous students.

CSU Vice Chancellor Professor Andy Vann and his counterpart at La Trobe Professor John Dewar argue that students already living in the regions are the key to filling their medical workforce gaps.

“The only way to improve the supply of health services in rural and regional communities is  to empower students from those communities to train and practice in those areas themselves,” Professor Dewar said.

Professor Vann told of an April report by Rural Health Workforce Australia showing fewer than 5 per cent of Australian medical graduates were intending to practise in rural communities as GPs.

“The COAG Health Council also noted that as few as 17 per cent of all medical graduates in their final years expressed an interest in a rural medical career as a specialist or GP,” he said.

“This is despite millions of dollars spent over the last decade to increase medical student numbers and substantially grow the pipeline of medical students wanting to work in rural practice.”

Professor Vann said available evidence suggested as few as 10 per cent of new medical graduates went to work in rural areas as rural specialists or GPs after completing postgraduate training.

“You simply can’t service the health needs of 32 per cent of the population with only 10 per cent of the medical graduates,” he said.

“This has real implications for economic and social sustainability in rural and regional areas.”

Professor Dewar said the MDMS would “work with local schools to grow aspiration and capacity” for medical and health careers.

“The MDMS will guarantee 80 per cent of enrolments from rural and Indigenous backgrounds, and will educate students in the very rural and regional communities where the shortage exists, addressing the core health needs of those areas,” he said.

“More than 70 per cent of La Trobe University’s and Charles Sturt University’s rural health graduates commence employment in rural areas after graduating.”

Professor Dewar said a range of strategies was needed to address the “chronic disease” of rural doctor shortages, incorporating the best of existing approaches as well as new and innovative solutions like the MDMS

CSU and La Trobe University will continue to talk with the federal government, regional communities, health service providers and doctors about evidence-based solutions to medical workforce shortages.

For more information go to www.mdms.edu.au.