A sufficient pipeline of doctors for rural communities is vital for Australia's overall medical workforce

Murray, Richard B.;Craig, Helen

Abstract

The shortage of doctors in remote, rural and regional Australian communities is a longstanding health policy challenge. It is the main reason why almost 3000 overseas-trained doctors enter the labour force annually1 — a similar number to the domestic graduate output of Australian medical schools.2 Most overseas-trained doctors end up practising in major cities; 75% of all registered overseas-trained doctors in clinical practice in 2021 were metropolitan based, with major cities also accounting for 76% of the growth in overseas-trained doctors over the 2015–2021 period.3 In effect, rurally targeted recruitment of overseas-trained doctors compounds the problem of geographic maldistribution that it is meant to solve. Achieving a substantial pipeline of Australian-trained graduates who will willingly pursue regional careers as general practitioners, rural generalists and non-GP specialists is therefore a first order policy priority.

Journal

Medical Journal of Australia

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219

ISBN/ISSN

1326-5377

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Publisher

John Wiley and Sons

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DOI

10.5694/mja2.52022