Medical students are being mobilised to help support GPs and non-GP specialists on COVID-19 frontlines, with more than 1000 putting their hands up so far.

Victoria, NSW and Queensland are planning medical student involvement, with the University Melbourne the first to get the ball rolling.

According to Professor Steve Trumble, head of the medical education department at the University of Melbourne, all but one of his university’s 1389 medical students have responded — and “he never reads my emails”.

In Victoria, the focus is on paid, casual work that frees up doctors while paying students, many of whom are facing financial pressures after losing their usual casual jobs and have had their clinical placements suspended due to the COVID-19 crisis.