CHANGES to the administration of medical internships in Tasmania are driving out young doctors who would prefer to stay in the state.
Graduates are placed on their preferences for a hospital in Hobart, Launceston or Burnie based on their University of Tasmania class ranking.
Previously a graduate who wanted Hobart but qualified only for their second or third preference because places were limited could on ranking take Hobart if it was vacated.
Between 25 and 40 per cent of Tasmanian graduates in any year leave the state because they accept a mainland offer.
But the new rules say vacated spots will now first be offered to unplaced students – those who failed to qualify at all for a Tasmanian internship.
They are leapfrogging higher ranked graduates locked into second or third preferences by the new rules forcing them away from family, friends and community.
Australian Medical Association Tasmania president Tim Greenaway said the changes were “paternalistic, unfair and lazy, it discriminates against higher-ranked graduates and is not merit based”.
“The problem is in not allowing students a second preference round and tying them to their first, it will discourage them from staying in Tasmania,” he said.
“They will apply interstate where they have more of chance at a number of different hospitals that would better suit them.
“It’s lazy because it implies that HR won’t go to the trouble of doing second round matching when vacancies become available.
“It also potentially allows the government to get away without funding adequate numbers of intern positions for public hospitals.”
A source involved with internship program told the Mercury the system was “clearly unfair” and was “driving graduates out of the state”.
“Tasmanian-raised or interstate students who want to stay here are now stuck at their second or last preference of hospital,” the source said.
“We have a hard time attracting specialists back to Tasmania later in their career. What is the logic in denying people who actually want to stay in Tasmania when under the previous systems it was clearly possible to please almost everyone?”
The Tasmanian Health Service yesterday said medical internships were a competitive process, and the new rules overcame previous inefficiencies in which hospitals essentially competed with each other for graduates.