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Andrew Dickens: We're training doctors for no reason · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So it's no secret to anyone that we don't have
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: enough doctors in this country. Recent policy moves to attract
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: more qualified overseas doctors have been eagerly received, as have
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: directives to increase the number of doctors we train locally,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and the government's decision to fund another fifty medical school
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: places from next year, which will increase the cap to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: six hundred and thirty nine first year students, was well
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  Speaker 1: received too. But here's my question, what is the point
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of trading more doctors if we don't have jobs for them.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Medical Council data shows that thirty percent of medical graduates
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  Speaker 1: leave the country within ten years. They leave because Health
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: New Zealand do not fund enough jobs. The jobs they
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: do fund a lowly play paid and future prospects are
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: limited except for a talent of view. They get paid
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: better overseas and they can pay off the student loan faster,
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  Speaker 1: and it all starts from day one after they've trained.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Each year, Health New Zealand fails to fund internships for
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  Speaker 1: twenty five to thirty graduates, forcing them to look overseas.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: They've done everything, but there's absolutely no job there for them.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Some sure, we're overseas students, but they've spent seven years here.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: They'd like to say if the prospects look good, but
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  Speaker 1: the prospects aren't. Now we've trained these guys, and all
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: tertiary education is partially subsidized by you and I the taxpayer.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: What is the point of spending taxpayers money training doctors
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  Speaker 1: if to save taxpayers money, we don't offer them a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: career path after their studies. And so how about this
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: for a radical idea. The government now wants to fund
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: training for six hundred and thirty nine doctors next year,
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  Speaker 1: why not also fund six hundred and thirty nine internships,
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  Speaker 1: and if any of them don't want to stay, we
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: use that excess funding to pay the guys who do
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: want to stay a little bit more. Because to fund
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: training of doctors and then refuse to fund their jobs
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: after they've graduated, to me, is wasteful spending. And we
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: all know how this government feels about wasteful spending. For
• 1:54
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• 2:00
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