THIS month, Dr John Waters has joined 14 other interns in starting two-year contracts with Albury Wodonga Health.
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Dr Waters is returning to his hometown of Albury and is hoping he will be able to stay after his internship is completed.
The good news is more doctors who come to the Border to further their medical training are choosing to remain in rural and regional areas, with the Albury Wodonga Health program credited as helping to improve retention rates in the bush.
Director of medical services Jason Goh says of last year’s group of interns, just two have moved on to metropolitan hospitals.
He says more graduates will experience training in regional areas.
Dr Waters says the choice is easy with regional health services providing greater one-on-one support and sufficient hands-on experience to make it an attractive option for young doctors.
That means communities such as ours continue to get a turnover of young doctors to replace those who are retiring or moving on and it means programs designed to enable regional areas to “grow their own” doctors are starting to pay real dividends.