27 February 2008

 

State and Federal Governments must earmark dedicated funding for medical staffing and facilities to ensure the health system can cope with the increased demand in clinical training requirements, AMA Victoria said today.

 

The cautionary warning comes as Victoria’s latest – and larger – wave of medical students begin their undergraduate degrees this month.

 

“Over the next five years we will see double the number of medical students going through our universities so we need to ensure that their clinical training requirements will be met,” said AMA Victoria Vice President Dr Stephen Parnis.

 

Dr Parnis said providing sufficient clinical experience during undergraduate, prevocational and vocational training places would prove to be an enormous future challenge unless extra resources are made available.

 

“Our doctors, nurses and allied health clinicians are already under pressure, both in the public and private systems. We need to act now and invest now in infrastructure and support.”

 

This year’s medical student numbers have increased substantially as Deakin University launched its School of Medicine.

 

“While we are delighted that there are more doctors on the horizon, existing resources are already stretched and when these students reach their clinical training years, in third year, these pressures will escalate,” Dr Parnis said.

 

“Quality training in a wide range of medical conditions is essential to ensure that Victoria’s high quality of patient care is maintained,” said Dr Parnis.

 

“Both State and Federal Governments have a role to play in ensuring clinical training requirements are met.”