Many recent graduates may leap at the chance to work in the bush if the government wiped their university debt.
That’s what’s currently on offer for doctors and nurse practitioners under a new scheme aimed at attracting more health professionals to rural, regional and remote areas.
The scheme is thought-provoking when Yass, like many regional areas, experiences funding and staff shortages regularly.
From as soon as January 2022, the federal government will wipe the university debt of doctors or nurse practitioners, under a few conditions.
If they are living and working in a remote community, they must work at least 24 hours a week for a period equivalent to half the length of their degree.
While those in rural and regional areas will need to work the same number of hours over a period as long as their entire degree.
The incentives are on top of current benefits, such as scholarship programs and additional Medicare benefits Regional Health Minister David Gillepsie told the ABC.
“The more remote you go, the more significant the practice incentive payment or the workforce incentive payment is,” Dr Gillespie said.
“This is an extra to what we have already,” he said. “It is targeted because there is an acute shortage of general practitioners in the outer, regional and remote areas — more so than anywhere else.”
Students will essentially recover their entire HECS debt, which can be up to $100,000 for those studying medicine.
The government is also making it easier for some rural and regional areas to recruit health practitioners typically reserved for very remote areas, like doctors that trained overseas.
Currently, GPs from overseas and doctors who are on special scholarships must work in so-called “distribution priority areas” for a fixed period after they have arrived in Australia.
Under the changes and wider eligibility criteria, those doctors would be able to work in a wider variety of places.
