Government to fund 50 more medical students to become doctors

Thursday, 15 June 2023

Dr Luke Bradford, medical director of the College of GPs, talks to Stuff about winter illnesses, workforce shortages and what New Zealanders can do to help the health sector get through the next few months. Video first published Jun 1 2023.

The Government will support 50 more people to become doctors, the Ministry of Health has announced.

Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall said the funding cap for medical students will be raised by 50 to 589 places a year.

Students will study at either the University of Auckland or Otago from 2024.

While medical students still pay hefty fees to undertake their study, the government foots much of the bill.

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It’s a move lobbied for by health educators for years.

There will be 50 more medical students a year training to become doctors from 2024. (File photo)

In 2022 acting dean (then deputy dean) of the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS), Professor Warwick Bagg, said it cost just over $62,000 per student per year to train a doctor.

About $16,456 of that was covered by student fees, while the Government footed about $45,770.

On Thursday, University of Auckland vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater said the new funding would help close the doctor shortfall in New Zealand.

“We, along with the University of Otago, have been working with successive Governments to look at ways to develop and maintain a sustainable domestic medical workforce, and we are thrilled to see this commitment from the Minister of Health to address a real training shortfall,” she said in a statement.

Bagg said increasing student numbers is the “fastest and most cost-effective” solution to the workforce issues.

“We are already committed to addressing the needs of the country in many areas of need including general practitioners (GPs), medical professionals in rural communities and the underrepresentation of Māori and Pacific people across the profession,” he said.

Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall. (File photo)

“The funding for these extra places is a great start to strengthening our domestic workforce and responding to the health needs of all New Zealanders.”

He said the two institutions had been preparing for these students.

Professor Tim Wilkinson, Otago Medical School’s acting dean, welcomed the “significant investment” in the country’s health workforce.

The details and requirements of the increase were not yet known, but he hoped it would help in rural areas particularly, where the doctor shortage was also “well documented”.

“While some may argue that 50 is not enough to cover the shortfall, it needs to be understood that cap increases are not just about putting more students into the classroom, it requires coordination with our stakeholders – health providers – to ensure there is adequate access to clinical training as well,” Wilkinson said.

Otago Medical School’s current cap on domestic places was 282 admissions each year. The last increase was in 2015, when it was lifted from 210 places.

The New Zealand Medical Students’ Association (NZMSA) called the announcement “a positive step”, but warned there was no point increasing student numbers if there weren’t jobs.

According to the association, last year there were 22 graduate doctors who trained in New Zealand for five years but then weren’t offered junior doctor job placement.

“Adding medical students to the pipeline must be matched with a stepwise increase in the number of junior doctor job posts and beyond if our communities are to benefit.”

The NZMSA said more students would also require more supervising doctors, and that students already reported feeling that clinical learning opportunities were stretched with current numbers.

Verall will explain the funding decision in a lecture at the University of Auckland on the future of the health workforce on Thursday.

But in a statement, she said training more medical students is about investing in the local workforce.

“We have always been reliant on overseas-trained doctors, and we recognise the skills and knowledge the international workforce brings to our workforce,” she said.

“However, to address inequities in the system and build a sustainable workforce, we must grow and invest in our domestic doctors, especially when there is global competition for internationally trained doctors.

“Training more medical students will help us grow our domestic workforce over time, ensuring we can provide sustainable public health care.”

In 2008, the government at the time promised to support 200 more medical students and delivered on funding for about 175.