The New Zealand Medical Students' Association (NZMSA) today welcomed the allocated funding for increased medical student numbers and doctor retention in the Government's budget.

"We welcome confirmation that the Government has set aside funding to increase medical student numbers and keep them in New Zealand" says NZMSA President, William Perry.

"New Zealand is facing a workforce crisis and needs to train more doctors. This allocation of funding allows us to train more medical students to bolster the number of New Zealand trained doctors in our workforce," says Mr Perry. The Government had earlier announced that they were to increase medical student places by 200 over the next five years.

Medical students, however, cautioned that increasing medical student numbers may come at a higher cost than expected. "Teaching resources and clinical opportunities for learning are already stretched. We need to make sure that we maintain a high quality of education and that we continue to produce world class doctors. This may mean that further thought and funding is required to develop current facilities".

"With an increase in the number of doctors trained, we also need to ensure that they stay in New Zealand" says Mr Perry. A WHO report in May last year found that 30% of New Zealand's doctors leave the country within three years of graduating from medical school.

The budget has allocated funding towards the voluntary bonding scheme that goes some way in addressing junior doctor retention. "We are pleased to see that part of the health budget includes allocation towards the scheme."

Mr Perry says the funding allocation and the scheme provide a good starting point to address this migration trend, but the Government will need to continue to implement ways to attract more New Zealand trained doctors to stay in the country.