Solving WA’s rural doctor crisis

This year The University of Western Australia has more medical students from rural and remote areas than ever before.

Story Ken Eastwood

A record number of Western Australian rural students are currently studying first year medicine at The University of WA. Out of 232 in the cohort, 105 are from rural towns and areas such as Kununurra, Tom Price, Kalgoorlie and Cuballing. A further 60 rural students are studying dentistry.

“This year was such a bumper crop,” says Professor Wendy Erber, pro-vice-chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. “Numbers are increasing in part because we’ve made a real effort to enthuse rural and remote students to study dentistry and medicine.”