Aussie docs show us how it’s done
have a lot more life experience than I have, because I’m only a few years out of high school,’’ Liao said.
‘‘In most of the cases, it’s quite advantageous with the amount of life experience they’ve had. With that comes the coping skills.’’
New Zealand-born Nicola Rowe enrolled in Flinders’ doctor of medicine course after Otago turned down her med school application. Rowe previously worked as a management consultant for 13 years and has a range of tertiary qualifications, including a doctor of laws from the University of Gottingen, in Germany.
She said a graduate-entry medical school in Waikato holds great appeal.
‘‘I would have applied to it in a heartbeat – I can’t stress that enough,’’ Rowe said.
‘‘It would be a New Zealand qualification and I’m very conscious that I come from a country that is not Australia. There’s a whole Maori and Pasifika component to New Zealand that I’m just not getting in the training.’’
Rowe said Waikato University had a reputation for innovation, such as the strong Maori component offered by its law faculty.
Waikato University professor of population health Ross Lawrenson said the proposed Waikato bid would offer the country’s first four-year graduateentry medical programme.
Worley said New Zealand’s lack of a four-year graduate-entry medical programme means it loses potentially excellent doctors overseas.
‘‘We get New Zealanders coming to Flinders and, as good as we think we are, it would be much better to have a local context to do your training. We are cousins but cousins are different. There’s important differences to the way health services are organised and in community expectations.’’
Auckland University considered establishing a graduateentry medical programme in Hamilton a decade ago but later shelved the idea.
Speaking at the recent Fieldays, Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said the Government is still considering the Waikato proposal and analysing its business case.
‘‘We’ve got to be very clear about what the issue is and how we provide doctors to rural areas in years to come,’’ Coleman said.
‘‘We’ve got to make sure we have the right number of doctors across the country and in the right places. So, look, a new medical school may be part of that solution, but we’ve got to be very clear about what is the best way to meet the future need for workforce around the country.’’
Coleman declined to say if a decision on the Waikato bid will be made before September’s general election.
Otago and Auckland universities have submitted a counter bid to the Government, proposing a new National School of Rural Health.
The two established med schools say the school of rural health could start to address the country’s chronic shortage of health professionals in rural communities and would avoid the start-up costs associated with creating a third medical school.
Aaron Leaman and Christel Yardley travelled to South Australia as part of a Fairfax NZ-funded trip to examine Flinders University’s rural medical programme.