No national fan but this might be the only decent ideas to come out of this party imo. Not enough for me to vote for them but man I wish labour would stop letting Auckland and Otago bullshit their way through securing their duopoly at the expense of our countries medical system.
Of course, the plan to fund a new medical school is sketchy at best. Medicine is obviously underfunded already, perhaps I’d hear an argument that the money would be better spent increasing wages for our existing doctors. That said, I’m of the opinion a new medical school couldn’t hurt us.
My understanding is that yes, there is the demand. The issue is money, Auckland and Otago want the money that would go to a new med school to instead increase their own capacity. Opening a new med school is certainly expensive but is a better solution in the long run, in my opinion.
Keeping the doctors is the other side of the coin, to which I don’t have a great answer other than, unfortunately, more money.