Medical admissions

Iwould encourage everyone to read Martin van Beynen’s Medical School: Who gets in and why (May 16, 2020) because it affects more than just those who have failed to gain entry and those close to them.

Amember of our family has been declined entry to Otago Medical School despite having a grade average of 93 per cent across all pre-med papers.

According to the article, students from the general category – ie not being one of the target groups – were required at the time to reach a 94 per cent grade average to be considered for admission.

By no means are all these general category students with stellar marks ‘‘book-smart, nerdy types from privileged backgrounds’’ aswas characterised by one of the target group graduates.

Students from one of the target groups could be admitted with a 70 per cent grade average, deemed the minimum level for success in the professional years of study.

There is no argument that the medical workforce should be representative of the society it serves, or that redressing the imbalance is required. The question is how a balance is to be achieved.

Given the time it takes to train new doctors, it would seem to be essential that the two existing medical schools increase their intake as soon as possible, or failing that, a new medical school be established to avoid the loss of talented young people to the medical profession or, if they are forced to study overseas, perhaps lost to the country.

P Fletcher, Wellington