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| Claim training funds used as cash cow |
13-Sep-2006 |
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By Christina Anastasopoulos
universities and hospitals struggling under financial constraints are siphoning off funds allocated for medical student training to cover general administration costs, medical groups claim.
The AMA and the Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) raised the alarm on the issue, claiming some universities were using up to half the total Federal Government funds allocated to support medical students for other purposes. Hospitals might also be diverting training funds to patient care, the groups said, pushing for an investigation into the issue.
“Medical schools should publicly account for the money they receive for medical students, and the hospitals must be discouraged from shifting specific medical training funding into general funds,” said AMA vice-president Dr Choong-Siew Yong.
“The universities must stop using medicine as a cash cow and instead invest money for medical schools into better facilities that will attract more clinicians into teaching.”
Dr Yong said any review should include a boost to funding for clinical training.
AMSA president Ms Teresa Cosgriff said the issue needed to be addressed urgently, given the “tsunami” of students about to enter hospital training.
“There’s a bit of give and take right now, but when the extra medical student places are filled in the next few years, the funding needs to be used more appropriately,” she said.
The Committee of Deans of Australian Medical Schools said any review of the system needed to ensure funding was tied to student training to prevent it being used elsewhere.
Federal Education Minister Ms Julie Bishop has promised to look into the issue.
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