It has been marketed as an ‘earn while you learn’ plan dreamt up by a government desperate to fix its medical workforce crisis.

The idea? Don’t just use medical schools to train future doctors. Instead recruit school leavers and put them on a five-year apprenticeship.

One UK doctor has already said it should be listed in the “pantheon of stupid ideas”, saying the country was flirting with third world medicine.

But those behind the plan say that successful applicants will still graduate with the same degree as students in “traditional” university-based medical training programs — but will be paid while they learn on the job.