Australia’s healthcare system is grappling with a shortage of general practitioners (GPs), raising concerns about the country’s capacity to train enough medical professionals to meet future needs. Pasindu Bandara (they/them), a third-year medical student at the University of Queensland and founder of Strive Academics, thinks that the medical school admissions process is broken. This continuing problem is preventing thousands of qualified Australian students from pursuing their desired career.
The applicant pool for medical schools is extremely competitive. For an ATAR over 99 and a score in the top 5% on the medical aptitude test, this same student would still be rejected. Even students with stellar high marks may be unable to gain acceptance into medical programs. With Monash University reporting 12 to 15 eligible applicants for every available position, the systemic issues surrounding medical school admissions and the subsequent training of GPs have come under scrutiny.
The Struggle for Admission
Pasindu Bandara started Strive Academics to connect students with tutors. His startup helps them navigate the arduous path towards entering medical school. Bandara emphasizes that for every exceptional student out there, there’s a barrier that prevents them from getting the opportunity to be admitted.
“We’ve seen a lot of students where we feel like they would make great doctors, and they would serve the community well, but one of the different obstacles stops them from doing so,” – Pasindu Bandara
As someone who has studied financial inequities extensively, he points to the lasting consequences of economic inequality. Students who are unable to afford tutoring are placed at an unfair disadvantage.
“Students that can afford this tutoring essentially have one foot in the door in terms of getting a competitive score,” – Pasindu Bandara
Additionally, bandara explains that despite having outstanding records, many of the best students struggle under the pressure on interview day and lose out on offers.
“These are top students, they get the best scores in their schools, they’re dux in their schools, they’ve got heaps of volunteering experience, they give back to their communities, but … on the interview day they don’t perform well and they don’t get through,” – Pasindu Bandara
Systemic Challenges in Medical Training
Commonwealth regulations substantially shape the existing system for matriculating medical students. These rules dictate how many slots each university can offer. As Michelle Leech, president of Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand, underscored, this is an essential task. She pointed out that thousands of qualified students are left without a chance each year because of these arbitrary caps.
“We turn away thousands and thousands and thousands of Aussies every year from medical school,” – Michelle Leech
Leech goes on to explain that rural quota-focus presents several critical challenges. This plan does little to ensure better outcomes for our nation’s rural healthcare.
“I don’t think having more metropolitan medical students is going to solve any of our problems, particularly from a rural and regional workforce perspective,” – Dr Louise Manning
Dr. Michael Wright echoes these sentiments, asserting that Australia has relied too heavily on overseas-trained doctors, which raises questions about the sustainability of this approach.
“For too long, we haven’t trained enough GPs in Australia,” – Dr Michael Wright
The Need for More Support and Resources
The crisis in general practice is compounded by a failure to provide enough internships. Secondly, the lack of coordination and support for medical professionals in regional areas makes the issue even worse. Dr. Louise Manning stresses that without improved accommodation, childcare services, and partner support for doctors, attracting talent to rural areas will remain a challenge.
“Hopefully [they encourage] rural general practitioners rather than putting all these spots in the cities,” – Dr Louise Manning
The federal government has announced plans to increase the number of medical student positions from 100 to 150 by 2028 across 22 medical schools. The general consensus among experts is that these steps are not enough and that we need more trained GPs distributed across Australia.
Bandara criticizes the rural quotas, decrying them as a “broken system.” He contends these new quotas don’t do a good job of addressing the real problems. He’s seen firsthand how many of those rural students end up moving to urban centers after graduation.
“The thing is [rural students] end up in a metro area anyway,” – Pasindu Bandara
