Following recent reports that revealed the MDMS wasn’t allocated any funding in the federal budget, many people came to the conclusion that it wasn’t on the government’s agenda. 

This was disputed by Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton, who confirmed he supports a regional medical school but stipulated placement was as important as a regional training facility. 

Following the decision by Prime Minister Tony Abbott to assist in funding the new Curtin University medical school in Perth, Mr Vann and Mr Dewar declared that strengthened the case for a new medical school in rural NSW and Victoria. 

“The biggest health workforce crisis facing the government is the maldistribution of doctors in Australia that has resulted in chronic shortages of doctors in rural and regional areas going back decades,” Mr Vann and Dewar said. 

“Rural people suffer from poor access to local medical and health services, and experience higher levels of chronic disease and death, because current medical education policies do more to increase metropolitan doctor numbers than grow the rural workforce.

“CSU and LTU have been arguing for a new rural medical school, the MDMS, based in rural NSW and Victoria dedicated to address rural medical workforce challenges.

“The proposal has been delayed by successive governments on the grounds of budgetary pressure and growing clinical training capacity.

“The announcement of a new medical school in Perth should give rural and regional communities around Australia confidence that the Government no longer sees these things as barriers.”

The MDMS would provide undergraduate medical training from campuses in Bendigo, Orange and Wagga Wagga, and reserve 80 per cent of enrolments for rural, regional and Indigenous students.