This comes as the government says it will fund an extra 25 medical student placements next year — just half the 50 placements promised by National pre-election — citing the need to make sure there are enough clinical placements.
The move has been slammed by the senior doctors’ union and the Labour Party, who both stressed the importance of providing the struggling health system with more medical graduates as soon as possible.
Otago Medical School acting dean Prof Tim Wilkinson said the university had been very specific that it could take up to 48 extra students next year, bringing the domestic yearly intake to 350.
Its preference would have been to stage the increase over two years, for example by taking an extra 25 students next year and another 23 the year after.
However, 25 is now the total number of extra students that will be funded between the country’s two medical schools, at Otago and Auckland universities, following Budget 2024.
The Budget also set aside $5 million over two years towards the business case for a third medical school at the University of Waikato.
"We were in a position to take our share of 50 extra places between Otago and Auckland in 2025, as opposed to the 25 additional places actually allocated.
"This would have not required any additional infrastructure investment, and would have been managed with reasonable ease," Prof Wilkinson said.
In the longer term, the university had told the government it could lift its annual intake to 450 places with sufficient investment, he said.
This year, Otago’s intake rose from 282 to 302 as part of a 50-person boost in medical students split between the two medical schools.
It was the first cap increase at Otago since 2015.
The university believed the lower-than-promised cap increase was due to the price tag, rather than any attempt to make a third medical school seem like a more attractive option.
"An increase of 25 more likely reflects the challenges government is facing in funding all that it wants to do in a tight fiscal environment," he said.
A document provided to the ODT yesterday shows Auckland medical school was also prepared for a greater boost in numbers next year.
Written in August last year, it showed the school planned for an increase of 20 students between 2024 and 2025.
Hitting back at the proposed Waikato medical school, the document said there was a "myth" that the two current medical schools were at capacity, but they were both keen to accept more funded students.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton said the situation was very frustrating, although the extra 25 places were a gesture in the right direction.
However, it was only a 4.2% increase on the current national cap of 589 placements.
"If we want to continue to have functioning public health system, we still need to do a lot better than raising the numbers by 25 trainee doctors a year," Ms Dalton said.
An extra 50 places would still not have been enough to keep up with public demand, especially given current exit data.
It would be a few years before clinical placements were needed for the additional students, she said.
"Come on, let’s be a bit more ambitious".
Labour health spokeswoman Dr Ayesha Verrall said research had shown the full boost of 50 places was needed.
The number of clinical placements was a problem that needed solving but the idea they were a reason to hold back was "rubbish", she said.
"It’s another broken promise."
The fastest and most cost-effective way of producing more medical graduates was to raise the caps at existing medical schools, and political games were being played regarding the potential Waikato school, she said.
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said future budgets would look at funding the remaining 25 places to make up the quota National had talked about.
"We want to ensure we’re increasing the numbers at a sustainable level over time, which includes making sure there are enough clinical placements."
Capping the number of medical school places helped to manage the supervision workload as graduates entered the public system, he added.
The start of a process for a new medical school in Waikato was a further step towards growing the workforce.
"I remain absolutely committed to progressing our work and growing an NZ-trained workforce."
