Medical student and junior doctor groups join forces in push for intern places
The AMA Council of Doctors in Training (AMACDT) has brought together a coalition of peak medical student and junior doctor groups to implement a joint strategy to convince governments to provide sufficient internships to match the growing number of medical graduates.
The group comprises the AMACDT, the Australian Medical Students' Association (AMSA), Medical Student Action on Training (MSAT), the General Practice Students Network (GPSN), and the National Rural Health Students' Network (NRHSN).
AMACDT Chair, Dr Will Milford, said today that all governments must ensure that there are enough internships for all medical graduates from Australian medical schools in 2014.
Dr Milford said that the groups representing medical students and junior doctors have come together in a united push to convince all governments to fund their share of the internships.
“We don’t want to see a repeat of the situation last year when some governments resisted working with the Commonwealth to fund their share of places,” Dr Milford said.
“Governments have a responsibility to ensure that all medical graduates can access an internship to complete their training and become registered as independent medical practitioners.
“These are the doctors who will be caring for patients in communities in all the States and Territories.
“It would be criminal if we learnt nothing from the chaos and confusion of last year’s internship crisis, and patients miss out on the quality medical care they desperately need.
“We call on the Federal Government to show leadership in talks with the States and Territories to ensure enough internships are in place for all locally trained medical graduates in 2014.
“We urge Health Ministers to show some vision to address the long-term need to fund and build greater capacity across the whole medical training pipeline.
“This includes developing a plan to ensure that there are enough prevocational and vocational training positions for these graduates once they leave medical school.”
4 June 2013
CONTACT: John Flannery 02 6270 5477 / 0419 494 761
Kirsty Waterford 02 6270 5464 / 0427 209 753
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