Medical students left out of prac payment expansion

Medical students are sleeping in cars, skipping meals, and bulking out food with donated Weet-Bix, but the cohort has been excluded from a Federal Government decision to extend prac payments to more health disciplines.
 
On Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the expansion of the Commonwealth Prac Payment to those training in 10 additional health professions, including physiotherapy, pharmacy, radiography, and podiatry.
 
From 1 July 2027, eligible students will receive up to $338.60 per week during their clinical and professional placement periods.
 
‘This is an investment in our future healthcare workforce. We need more of them and this will help more Australians get the qualifications our nation needs,’ Prime Minister Albanese said.
 
The change has been welcomed by many who have long advocated for funding for allied health students, but it has left others deeply disappointed.
 
Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) President Seniru Mudannayake said the dream of medical school ‘rapidly becomes a nightmare’ without external financial support.
 
‘One student reported that the morning ward round coffee, ordered by a consultant doctor, was the only thing besides water that they had consumed in two days,’ he said.
 
‘Another student admitted to using donated Aldi brand Weet-Bix to stretch soups, stews and sauces so they would have enough food to get through the week. They have been doing this for three months.
 
‘Students are sleeping in their cars or commuting more than two hours each way to placement just to afford shelter or because they have dependent children.’
 
Mr Mudannayake said excluding medical students from the payment will ‘only serve to widen existing health gaps’.
 
‘Medical students sacrifice themselves to complete their degree, they cannot give up work or placement so instead they sacrifice their sleep, working late night or overnight shifts on top of their full-time placement days,’ he said.
 
‘Your postcode or parents should not determine your ability to become a doctor. It is fundamentally un-Australian.’
 
According to AMSA, Australian medical students complete up to 4000 hours of medical placement, the most of any healthcare degree in the nation, with universities recommending students work no more than 5–10 hours per week.
 
Mr Mudannayake’s concerns have been echoed by RACGP President Dr Michael Wright, who said the announcement ‘doesn’t make sense’.
 
‘That on-the-job training is what has given us such expert clinicians all around this country, but this unpaid training places a major financial burden on many medical students,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘Placements really can act as a barrier for some of our brightest students choosing to go into medicine, and it’s particularly hard for people from disadvantaged populations, people in rural areas, and people from lower socioeconomic groups.
 
‘Out of all these courses the medical degree is the longest, and the impact of these placements on finances are greatest for future doctors, so excluding them from this, it just doesn’t make any sense.’
 
Both the RACGP and AMSA are now calling on the Federal Government to urgently include medical students in the Commonwealth Prac Payment moving forward.
 
The expansion will see students from the below courses become eligible next year:

• Clinical psychology
• Physiotherapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech pathology
• Paramedicine
• Radiography
• Pharmacy
• Rehabilitation therapies
• Audiology
• Podiatry

Australian Medical Students Association Commonwealth Prac Payment medical students