Justine
E & OE – PROOF ONLY
TONY EASTLEY: The AMA says the Government's bonded medical scheme may be unconstitutional, and it's preparing to challenge it in the courts when the first students graduate.
The first round of students began their studies in February; when they complete their training they must spend six years working in areas of need. And for many, the reality of what they've signed up for is just now sinking in.
Ben Knight reports.
BEN KNIGHT: Kara Oddy is a first year bonded medical student at Adelaide University. In six years, she'll graduate, and a year after that she'll most likely go the country to work for another six years.
Most of her fellow students aren't bonded, and they'll be free to go wherever they choose. And for Kara, the reality of the decision she's made is beginning to hit home.
KARA ODDY: I mean these people can do whatever they want in six years, and I'm going to be wanting to do the same, but yeah, I can't. So it's hard because that's what I wanted, like, when I thought of doing medicine I didn't think of being bonded.
BEN KNIGHT: Kara badly wanted to study medicine. But even so, she says just accepting the offer of a bonded place was a difficult decision. But she did.
And so did James Miller, who, with one degree already under his belt, was offered a postgraduate place at the Australian National University in Canberra.
He, too, has been slowly coming around to the realisation of what lies ahead, and he's getting increasingly concerned by it because, in his case, the contract doesn't take effect until he's completed 15 years of training – by which time he'll be 41-years-old.
JAMES MILLER: How do I know where I'm going to be at 41? What my family situation will be like, what my wife will be doing, if I have a wife, if I have children, you know, where they're up to? If they will be able to just uproot and move to an area of need, or rural area as defined by the Federal Government?
BEN KNIGHT: But you have accepted the place, so that means that you've accepted those rules, is that right?
JAMES MILLER: Pretty much yes. We sort of didn't have much of an option there. It was either sign on the dotted line or you didn't get into university.
BEN KNIGHT: Both students are very happy with their courses, and their schools. But they're also hoping there'll be a way out of the bond before they graduate.
KARA ODDY: You don't really accept it and you're always, you know, thinking "oh, there must be some way out of it", and because I'm only 17 I haven't signed the contract. You know, I'll be looking forward to my eighteenth birthday but I'll be dreading it because I'm going to have to sign the contract and then it's done.
BEN KNIGHT: The scheme was designed to get students like James and Kara – who don't want to work in the country – to do just that. It's created more than 200 extra places in Australian medical schools, and is supported by Labor.
But both James and Kara say their fellow bonded students share their doubts about what they've signed up for. And they have the support of the Australian Medical Association, which has a legal opinion saying that the scheme may be unconstitutional, and is prepared to get behind a legal challenge when the first students graduate.
AMA President Bill Glasson.
BILL GLASSON: If our doctors in training and our young graduates feel as though we should have some involvement, then, I think, you know, we will need to look at it.
TONY EASTLEY: AMA President, Dr Bill Glasson, ending that report from Ben Knight.
Ends
