The federal government’s decision to extend prac payments to more health disciplines while continuing to exclude medical students makes no sense, the Australian Medical Association said today.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced today that the prac payment scheme would be extended to a range of allied health professions but continue to leave medical students out in the cold despite the government’s own workforce modelling showing a desperate need to attract more doctors to underserviced communities and specialty areas.
“We welcome the inclusion of more health disciplines in the prac payment scheme but the community deserves an explanation from the government about why medical students are once again being excluded from this payment scheme,” AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said.
“Including medical students would improve community access to healthcare, particularly in underserviced rural and remote communities.
“Medical students are required to undertake about 2,000 hours of unpaid clinical placements. The costs associated with this unpaid placement are a significant barrier to participation among current and potential students from low socio-economic and rural backgrounds.
“Evidence also tells us that medical students from rural and regional Australia are more likely to practice in a rural and regional area once qualified. Helping these students undertake their placements will mean more doctors in areas that struggle the most with access.”
Dr McMullen said Australia’s medical workforce was maldistributed across geographies and specialties, making it harder for patients to access the care that they need in a timely fashion.
“Providing means-tested access to these payments for medical students would be an important step towards addressing this growing challenge,” she said.
“The AMA is committed to improving access to care for the community and while there is no single solution, supporting medical students with a prac payment along with other well targeted policy initiatives can make a real difference.
“We will continue to work with the government on delivering a medical workforce that meets community need, having well developed policies that target medical student intakes, prevocational training places, GP training and non-GP specialist training places. “
Dr McMullen urged the government to urgently reconsider its decision.
