AMA Questions decision to open new medical school Western Australia
The AMA today strongly criticised the Federal Government’s decision to fund a new medical School at the Curtin University campus in Midland, WA, as reported in today’s West Australian
AMA President, A/Prof Brian Owler, said the AMA, at both State and Federal level, and the Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA), have been opposing this proposal for many years, and have made many representations to the Federal and WA Governments.
“Opening a new medical school in Western Australia at this time does not make sense,” A/Prof Owler said.
“In fact, there is no evidence for the need of a new medical school anywhere in Australia right now. We need training places, not new medical schools.
“All governments must focus on increasing prevocational and vocational training places instead of pumping more students into the system when the training pipeline is blocked.
“Medical graduate numbers in WA have tripled since 2004, when there were 105 domestic graduates and two international graduates. A total of 305 domestic students and 32 international students are projected to graduate at the end of this year.
“The priority should be ensuring these graduates become fully-trained doctors, and that means providing the appropriate number of training places.”
A/Prof Owler said any Federal Government decision to fund the Curtin medical school cannot possibly be based on any medical workforce planning recommendations.
“The National Medical Training Advisory Network (NMTAN) has not recommended this course of action, and the recent Australia's Future Health Workforce(AFHW) report highlighted the need to get doctors working in the areas and specialties where they are most needed,” A/Prof Owler said.
“AFHW modelling also shows an emerging mismatch between the number of trainees seeking a vocational training place and the availability of places based on community need. This mismatch emerges from around 2017 in the most recent modelling, and extends to a shortfall of approximately 1,000 places by 2030.
“Funding this new medical school appears to be a purely political decision.
“This week’s Federal Budget revealed yet again that the States and Territories are in urgent need of funding for their public hospitals and funding to support their exiting medical workforce, not a new medical school for students with little hope of getting a job at the end of their training.”