‘Inappropriate’ to target whistleblower

Med students have been told not to target a suspected whistle-blower who alerted University of Otago staff to the overseas placement scam.

In a forthright message to students, Professor Barry Taylor, the dean of Otago Medical School, said he had concerns over ‘‘inappropriate behaviours by some trainee interns with regard [to] the current investigation into possible rorting of the TI elective’’.

The scam was exposed by The Press last month and involved students pretending to spend time at overseas hospitals as part of their 12-week elective, when in fact they falsified reports to go travelling.

The University of Otago launched an inquiry after rumours emerged in June and on Monday it was revealed that 15 Christchurch campus students had been found guilty of academic misconduct.

It is not known how the information came to light but Taylor told students the investigation had been prompted by ‘‘information from many sources, not any one individual’’ and targeting anybody thought to be a whistle-blower is ‘‘totally inappropriate and misdirected’’.

‘‘It is important at times of stress we do not indulge in rumours or blame but support and be kind to our colleagues,’’ he said.

A university spokeswoman said the institution is providing support to all students affected by the recent events and Christchurch staff are in regular contact with the students.

One current Otago medical trainee, who The Press has agreed not to name, said the 15 students ‘‘should fail and have to repeat the quarter, if not the whole TI year’’ and should also be publicly named.

‘‘There has been much discussion among many of us here regarding this as we think the actions of a few students has dragged the names and integrity of the medical school through the mud.

‘‘They did not just make a bad judgement but it was intentional and should have more consequences than what has been done.’’

However, another student took to Facebook to argue that the scam was justified because studying medicine is ‘‘gruelling and expensive’’.

The unnamed academic wrote the 500-word post on the UO Meaningful Confessions page to address

‘‘They did not just make a bad judgement but it was intentional and should have more consequences than what has been done.’’ Otago University medical trainee

the ‘‘misconceptions about the elective scandal doing the rounds on social media’’.

‘‘Fifth year exams are brutal, you are assessed on four years’ worth of content. Therefore, it is only natural that sixth year (students) want to let-off some steam and travel before starting fulltime jobs as junior doctors. This is why I think it is understandable that some students forge their elective reports,’’ they wrote. ‘‘In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter if you spend six weeks following a doctor around like a lost dog or only two weeks and spend the remaining four weeks travelling and getting cultural experience and a much needed study break.’’

The poster also acknowledged the $26,756 medical trainee intern grant paid to each student in monthly instalments during their final year.

‘‘Yes, we do get a grant of around

26k but considering how expensive travel, insurance (and) accommodation is for three months and the fact that most of us will have around

80k debt when we graduate, I think this is only fair.

‘‘For many of us that threemonth period is the first time in our lives where we have sufficient funds to travel.’’