Minister delivers good news for bonded medical students

Bonded medical students will no longer be limited to working only in district of workforce shortage (DWS) areas, and will be able to work in any rural or remote town with a population of less than 15,000 under reforms to rural workforce incentive programs announced last week by the Assistant Minister for Health, Senator Fiona Nash. These changes will provide more flexibility for bonded medical place (BMP) graduates who want to live and work in rural Australia.

The AMA also welcomes the Government commitment to look closely at the value of exposure of junior doctors to rural practice. The AMA has recently released a positive proposal for the development of Regional Training Networks and strongly backs the development of an advanced rural general practice training pathway. The AMA will also highlight the negative impact of the Budget changes to the Prevocational General Practice Placements Program (PGPPP) and the need to develop a new model to provide junior doctors with prevocational experience in in general practice, particularly in rural areas.