Call to scrap rural bonded program because too many doctors never return
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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.