MEDIA ALERT –

NSW Medical Students against the creation of new

medical schools

The NSW Medical Students’ Council (NSWMSC) has extreme concerns that
the Australian Federal Government is currently considering the funding of another
new medical school.

The NSWMSC is the peak representative body of the 8 medical schools already
established in New South Wales, the most out of any state in Australia, including
the new Macquarie Medical School that will open today. NSWMSC opposes any
plans to establish new medical schools, including in the Murray Darling region.
New medical schools will not address the shortage of rural medical practitioners,
and will merely contribute to an oversupply of medical graduates.

In the last 10 years alone, medical student numbers have increased by 97%, in an
environment where 1000+ graduates will miss out on speciality-training positions
by 2030. The NSWMSC has a clear no new medical schools policy that was
passed unanimously by all medical student societies in NSW.

NSWMSC President, Mr Liam Mason, says:

“ The opening of a new medical school is seen as a massive triumph in the

government and public eye, as we live in a country that is undersupplied by doctors
in rural areas. However, this is not the most effective way to use taxpayer’s money.
Increased in medical student numbers will not increase the amount of much needed
rural doctors, until the current medical graduates numbers are met with the
necessary infrastructure for increased internship and specialist training places,
including general practitioner training places. As such the graduates of any new
medical school will only exacerbate the bottleneck in specialty training pathways,
which cap numbers of qualified medical specialists.”

The NSWMSC calls upon the Federal government to stop spending taxpayers
money on the establishment of new medical schools in order to swing for public
favour. Funding should be spent on establishing speciality-training pathways in
rural areas, rather than spending an additional several hundred million dollars
creating more medical students that we do not need.

#FixItDontFloodIt #NoNewMedicalStudents #ImWorriedDarling

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Media Contacts:

Liam Mason Antonia Watson

President Advocacy Officer
NSWMSC NSWMSC
M: +61 432 949 086 M: +61 421 383 442
E: president@nswmsc.org.au E: advocacy@nswmsc.org.au