Bonded medical programs should be scrapped in light of “overwhelming” evidence that medical students do not return to practise in the bush after they graduate, a federal Senate committee says.

The Community Affairs Reference Committee pointed to figures showing just 4.4% of bonded medical students — 597 out of 13,521 participants — have so far completed their return-of-service obligations since the various programs began twenty years ago.

“The committee is of the preliminary view that bonded medical programs are ineffective and should cease taking new applicants,” it said.

It quoted Dr Hamish Meldrum, a GP who told the inquiry back in January that medical students had laughed when he had asked about their reasons for going into country practice.