Dozens of graduating medical students left without a job
MORE than two dozen of our future doctors have not yet been matched with jobs for their first year out of medical school, and some are thinking about heading overseas as a result.
Twentyfive mostly international medical students have not yet got a postgraduate job for next year.
Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) has offered 538 jobs to students, out of a total 563 who applied across the country. It comes as some GP practices have weekslong waiting lists, while hospitals and emergency departments around the country struggle with understaffing and ballooning wait times.
For one international student, who does not want to be named, it did not make sense not to be matched with a job after seeing the dire staffing issues at hospitals for herself.
‘‘This year I’m a finalyear medical student, and we often have to do a lot of jobs that junior doctors need to do because of a shortage of staff.’’
The matching system, known as ACE, has three categories: It prioritises New Zealand students first, then students from Australian universities and lastly international students who studied here.
‘‘I think it’s quite frustrating for us, because we’ve also trained through all the years during medical school, and we do the same amount of work as domestic students.’’
She wanted to stay in New Zealand, and would keep looking for a job here, but if she could not find one she would think about moving to Australia, she said.
HNZ interim national chief medical officer Nick Baker said the remaining 25 students would join the the national talent pool, which was accessible to all employers.
He said HNZ was committed to working with the unmatched graduates to find them roles as soon as possible.
But it was not a guarantee they would get jobs and right now there was not a spot for them.
The student RNZ spoke to felt this did not make sense when they had studied here for six years, wanted to work here and the health sector seemed overwhelmed.
‘‘I think especially now, they’re losing a lot of people to Australia, or other countries, and they’re not actually supporting people who actually want to stay in New
Zealand and work here.’’
New Zealand Medical Students Association vicepresident of engagement Jake Parsons said medical school in New Zealand was very competitive to get into and produced highquality graduates who had a lot of debt and have poured a lot into their qualifications.
‘‘For these people to not receive job offers, after what is a very long, very challenging degree — it is a real blow for people who’ve sacrificed an enormous amount of time and money.’’
Despite there being 25 students without jobs, that number did not tell the whole story, Mr Parsons said.
‘‘My understanding is there’s probably many more that know that as international students they’re very unlikely to get a job, and so they haven’t even applied in the first place.’’
The number of students being trained was often focused on by politicians, but that was only part of the picture, he said.
‘‘The reality is if we’re not funding positions for those junior doctors, then it doesn’t matter how many medical students we train. We’re just funnelling resources into them, and then they have to go overseas.’’ — RNZ