More than 300 student doctors and nurses will receive some of their training at Gisborne and Whakatane hospitals as the result of a new rural health partnership between the Government and Otago and Auckland Universities.
Otago and Auckland medical schools already have undergraduate programmes, placing medical students into rural practices and hospitals for training.
The latest collaboration is part of a $4.5 million programme to overcome health staffing shortages in some regions by training students in rural areas in the hope of encouraging them to return to work in rural communities.
Auckland University will provide training at Whakatane Hospital for more than 140 medical, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy students over three years.
The Otago University programme in Gisborne will cater for almost 170 medical, nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy and dentistry students.
