CHARLES Sturt University has vowed to continue to fight hard to secure a medical school for the region.
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Vice-chancellor Andrew Vann said the university’s resolve had become even stronger since the federal government backed a new school in Perth.
The government has pointed to poorer access to doctors as a major reason why it funded The Curtin Medical School at Midland, near Perth, in May.
Instead, Western Australia relied heavily on recruiting overseas trained doctors to meet a shortage of 950 positions.
But both CSU and La Trobe universities have said this was no different to rural and regional areas, pointing to a “chronic shortage of doctors” for decades.
Professor Vann said Charles Sturt remained convinced there was “a very pressing case” for the government to fund the Murray Darling Medical School.
“There is a problem with the way existing schools are set up,” he said.
“We absolutely think this is needed but we haven’t really seen any shift up until this point based on the approaches that have been tried.
“We’re also lobbying very strongly on that.”
CSU and La Trobe have argued that they were already major providers of the health and medical sciences.
While the main Murray Darling Medical School would be elsewhere, most likely Wagga, CSU’s Thurgoona campus would still play a major role given its new allied health clinic and the courses it runs in the health sciences.
Health Minister Sussan Ley said she was well aware of CSU’s push for a medical school.
“My department has received proposals for regionally based medical schools from around the country and each proposal is assessed on merit,” she said.
“Meeting with junior doctors around the country has certainly convinced me that providing opportunities for them in rural Australia in the first two or three years after graduating does much to build their interest and engagement in rural practice.”