9. MOANA MACKEY (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Tertiary Education
What is the Government doing to support excellence in medicine and dentistry education and training?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister for Tertiary Education) Link to this
I have announced $24.6 million of additional annual funding for undergraduate medicine and dentistry education and training from next year. The increase in funding will support excellence in medicine and dentistry education and training, including the development and expansion of curricula to ensure that they are up to date and world-class.
How will this package assist in addressing the challenges relating to health care provision in rural areas?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
The package specifically includes support to expand training for future general practitioners in rural areas, which has been identified as needing development. This complements work recently announced by my colleague the Hon Damien O’Connor to increase support for rural midwives.
Jo GoodhewWhat progress has the Minister made towards funding rural immersion experience for medical students in an attempt to address the general practitioner workforce crisis?
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN Link to this
As I indicated, this very substantial amount of increased funding is related to discussions with both the University of Otago and the University of Auckland around increasing activities in relation to the training of rural general practitioners. The University of Otago, of course, has been leading in that respect for a number of years. We would like to see the University of Auckland come up to at least the same level as the University of Otago in that regard.