Medical students access to scholarships slashed
new-zealand-labour-party
Mon Jun 22 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Medical students access to scholarships slashed
Monday, 22 June 2009, 9:34 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
**Medical students access to scholarships slashed under National
**
The Government has cut nearly $100 million worth of scholarships from tertiary education, limiting the financial assistance available for those wanting to train for careers in health, Labour Health Spokesperson Ruth Dyson says.
“This disastrous decision creates further barriers for New Zealanders wanting to enter careers in health,” Ruth Dyson said.
“On Wednesday, Health Minister Tony Ryall told a Health Select Committee that the challenge facing New Zealand’s health sector was ‘workforce, workforce, workforce’ yet yesterday he claimed he had not cut scholarships for those wanting to train for careers in health.
“Tony Ryall is part of the Cabinet who made the decisions on budget funding cuts so it is ridiculous for him to now claim he has no responsibility for the decision to reduce the amount of financial assistance available for medical students.
“Surely as a Minister of Health who is concerned about workforce issues he would have argued strongly against them, or does he just not want the public to know that despite his claims on bonding that financial assistance for Kiwis wanting careers in health has been severely limited.
“The New Zealand Medical Students’ Association has also expressed concern about the loss saying ‘with fewer scholarships available to students, we are only going to see higher levels of student debt. Debt has consistently been shown to have an adverse impact on the New Zealand medical workforce’.
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“Tony Ryall yesterday announced further details of the Government’s bonding scheme. It is therefore ironic that he refuses to discuss the impact removing scholarships from the medical students will have.
“The National Government has given with one hand and taken with the other.
Those scholarships which have been cut include Step-Up Scholarships which in 2007/08 were granted to 1739 students across tertiary education including those training for health careers, Bonded Merit, which were last year granted to 100 students, and Top Achiever Doctoral schemes.
“Student debt is a key reason for New Zealand trained doctors, nurses and midwives heading overseas and by removing scholarships we will inevitably see more of our young medical graduates heading offshore,” Ruth Dyson
ENDS
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