The NSWMSC is the peak representative body of the eight medical schools already established in New South Wales, the most out of any state, including the new Macquarie Medical School that will open on Monday.

In a statement on Monday, NSWMSC said it opposes any plans to establish new medical schools, including in the Murray Darling region.

New medical schools will not address the shortage of rural medical practitioners, and will merely contribute to an oversupply of medical graduates, it said.

In the last 10 years alone, medical student numbers have increased by 97%, in an environment where 1000+ graduates will miss out on speciality-training positions by 2030.

The NSWMSC has a clear no new medical schools policy that was passed unanimously by all medical student societies in NSW.

NSWMSC President Mr Liam Mason says: “The opening of a new medical school is seen as a massive triumph in the government and public eye, as we live in a country that is undersupplied by doctors in rural areas.

“However, this is not the most effective way to use taxpayer’s money. Increases in medical student numbers will not increase the amount of much-needed rural doctors, until the current medical graduates numbers are met with the necessary infrastructure for increased internship and specialist training places, including general practitioner training places.

“As such the graduates of any new medical school will only exacerbate the bottleneck in specialty training pathways, which cap numbers of qualified medical specialists.”

The NSWMSC calls upon the Federal Government to stop spending taxpayers’ money on the establishment of new medical schools to swing for public favour.

Funding should be spent on establishing speciality-training pathways in rural areas, rather than spending an additional several hundred million dollars creating more medical students that we do not need.