The proposed Murray Darling Medical School (MDMS) almost hijacked the limelight when federal Assistant Minister for Health Dr David Gillespie visited Dubbo on Thursday to announce a national and multi-million-dollar plan to provide specialist training for doctors in the bush.
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Dr Gillespie encountered questions from the media and public statements of support for the MDMS from federal Member for Calare Andrew Gee and Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vice Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann. CSU and La Trobe universities are pushing for the MDMS that they call a “simple and pragmatic solution” to the shortage of doctors in rural NSW and Victoria.
Mid-morning on Thursday Dr Gillespie visited the University of Sydney’s School of Rural Health in Dubbo to announce 26 new training hubs to “expand postgraduate training opportunities” for doctors in regional and rural Australia and address workforce shortages. During a lengthy interview he was peppered with questions about the MDMS.
“The whole medical undergraduate training places, numbers and distribution is under review,” Dr Gillespie said. “I can’t really comment.” Dr Gillespie said the review was in the hands of federal Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham, the Department of Health and “our two ministries”. “In due course we will make a determination and you will be one of the first to know,” the assistant minister said.
The University of Sydney’s School of Rural Health in Dubbo and Orange is among the 26 training hubs while CSU has secured one of three new University Departments of Rural Health. It will “generate and support” placements in a range of health settings in inland NSW for CSU’s undergraduate allied health students.
Dr Gillespie announced the hubs at the the School of Rural Health in Moran Drive before moving to CSU’s Dental and Oral Health Clinic in River Street. He was welcomed and thanked before hearing about the MDMS again. Mr Gee said CSU was “so well placed with the advent of this new department here to really establish that school”. Professor Vann said talks continued with the government on the MDMS. “We have not shifted from our view that this is both a very strong and a very necessary proposal if we are going to address the shortage of doctors,” he said.
