MEDICAL students are undertaking years of placements in the Mallee to address the region’s doctor shortage.
Charles Sturt University and Monash University has partnered with Swan Hill District Health for a specialised rural health program that aims to create more local doctors.
The Mallee Clinical School in Swan Hill is one of the nine schools that students can undertake placements with.
Among the CSU students is Swan Hill local Zoe Steicke, who was born in Swan Hill District Health’s maternity ward and delivered by Dr Manzoor Elahi.
Ms Steicke has recently begun her rural health placement at the Mallee Clinical School in Swan Hill and will also be training in Kerang and Deniliquin for the next five years.
“I really love the opportunity because I already have links to the community, and it’s really fulfilling being able to help the community where you grew up,” Ms Steicke said.
“Living here, I’ve experienced the doctor shortage first hand, so being able to help in the community is great.”
Since 2010, SHDH has been working with Monash University students, with students from CSU joining the program in 2022.
CSU associate professor in medicine Dr Ernan Hession is also a Monash University senior lecturer and head of Mallee Clinical School.
He said the clinical school had trained about 250 Monash University students so far.
While the program is said to have worked well for the students, the placements were not long enough for students to settle down and practice in town.
Dr Hession said the CSU students are a great addition to the program and believes it will help address the doctor shortage in the community, in hopes that rural students are more likely to stay and work in rural areas.
“The University is based in Orange, New South Wales so it prioritises regional students,” he said.
“Charles Sturt’s School of Rural Medicine’s long-term goal is to recruit locally, and have as many students from the Mallee as possible.”
The five-year program involves the students undertaking training in regional and remote towns in their last three years.
“By next year, four people will have completed their placements in the area, so we’ll be producing doctors from next year,” Dr Hession said.
“So we’re just growing our own workforce from the grassroots level.”
“But we’re also not expecting that every student will stay here after they finish studying. We’re here to give you a good education and a good understanding of country practice, so if they become a specialist in the future, they can come to clinics in country areas,” Dr Hession said.
He said the program aimed to include smaller towns like Balranald and Sea Lake in the students’ rotations of placements.
The clinical schools have 42 students enrolled, and he hopes the number will double over time with more students from the Mallee.
Dr Hession said he was glad Ms Steicke was the first local student in what he hopes will be many more in the future.
Ms Steicke said the prioritisation of regional students in Charles Sturt University has provided her with an inclusive university environment.
“I really like that all my peers have similar backgrounds to me and that we all have similar hopes of going back to regional communities,” Ms Steicke said.
