Medical students and young doctors in the Wide Bay region will receive greater opportunities to train under the Coalition Government’s additional investment in the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) program.
The Coalition Government is providing $39 million to the University of Queensland under the RHMT program to support rural training for health and medical students.
The Federal Assistant Minister for Health, Dr David Gillespie, today congratulated and paid tribute to Member for Hinkler, Keith Pitt, for his strong advocacy in securing the additional funding commitment for the university, particularly its Bundaberg campus.
Dr Gillespie and Mr Pitt today visited the University of Queensland’s Rural Clinical School in Bundaberg, which will establish one of the Government’s Regional Training Hubs.
“Supporting rural health training is an important way to address health workforce shortages,” Minister Gillespie said.
“Our additional investment for the Wide Bay Training Hub will employ additional staff and enable more young doctors to continue their training in Bundaberg.”
“The clinical training program available here in Bundaberg provides opportunities and experiences in all the key discipline areas and many sub-specialties such as Cardiology, ENT, Oncology, Plastic Surgery, Neurology and Ophthalmology.”
“These are fantastic experiences and Keith has been a constant advocate to expand and increase these opportunities.
A key strength of the Rural Clinical School network is the ability to encourage innovative models of education tailored to the unique communities in which health services are delivered.
“This Rural Clinical School network delivered by the University of Queensland is a wonderful example of an ability to respond and adapt to local issues,” Mr Pitt said.
“I am delighted to see this increase in funding flowing through to the University of Queensland’s program here in Bundaberg.”
“The Wide Bay region will witness the ultimate benefit as it will deliver doctors to communities and the University of Queensland’s own published evidence has demonstrated this.”
“Training investments like Regional Training Hubs are essential to the health workforce of the region into the future. These initiatives will help the Coalition Government deliver on its commitment to provide first rate health and medical services to all Australians – regardless of where they live.”