The union that represents most doctors in New Zealand says it is "heartened" by a National Party proposal for a third medical school at Waikato University.
While the university has also welcomed the move, the University of Auckland — which has its own existing medical school — says it is "unnecessary".
National Party leader Christopher Luxon announced the policy in Hamilton today, saying it was aimed at addressing workforce shortages in health.
It came alongside the announcement an incoming National government would also increase the number of medical school placements at Auckland and Otago universities by a total of 50 by 2025.
It's a concept scrapped by the Labour government nearly five years ago. (Source: 1News)
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) executive director Sarah Dalton said there was a need to train and retain more doctors in New Zealand.
"We cannot maintain our reliance on the global market to provide our senior doctors."
She said ASMS had welcomed the Goverment's June increase of 50 medical school places but noted the need for more.
"This is exactly the right sort of next step.
"Today's proposal from National is a big piece in the workforce puzzle. It looks to the longer term and is much needed."
"There are flow-on implications we need to keep in mind. If we grow the numbers at medical school, we need to build in capacity for clinical placements, training, and supervision at each stage of undergraduate and vocational training. But those are all good problems to have as we grow the local supply of doctors."
"We strongly encourage all other parties, including the current Government, to show their support for this plan.
"Perhaps it can be the foundation for a long-term political consensus on how we get the heath system in Aotearoa we all need and deserve."
The University of Waikato, where the announcement was made, also welcomed the announcement, with vice-chancellor professor Neil Quigley saying it was a "fundamental step towards addressing our health workforce needs" and reducing "chronic reliance on importing our health workforce from overseas".
"The University of Waikato has consistently made the case for investment in a third medical school to meet the current and future workforce needs of our health sector.
"New Zealand cannot hope for better health workforce outcomes if we keep doing the same thing over and over."
Quigley said Waikato University was well-placed to deliver a new and "more socially accountable" medical school, and it has the widespread stakeholder support to do so.
However, University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences acting dean professor Warwick Bagg said the proposed third medical school at Waikato was "unnecessary".
He welcomed the party's commitment to increasing medical school numbers, saying Auckland University already operated throughout the upper North Island, including in the Waikato region, and had the capacity to grow those sites with the support of Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora.
He said that would be the most cost-effective and efficient way of increasing the number of medical school places and future doctors.
"The University of Auckland has been exploring, at a high level, how it can offer more medical places over and above the domestic medical cap of 287 places for 2024, which was recently announced by the Minister of Health," Bagg said.
"The university is currently planning for a class size of 330 and can lift this to more than 460 by 2027."
This would take in regional clinical schools in Whangarei, Waikato (Hamilton) and Tauranga.
"Aotearoa New Zealand is a small country and it is critical for us to make wise decisions, using and building on existing infrastructure and capability to expand our medical workforce."
Government responds
Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said National needed to "show us the money" on how it could deliver tax cuts as well as "an expensive new medical school".
She said more medical students were needed and the Government has announced a "comprehensive plan" — its six-point health workforce plan — yesterday.
Those six points were: Bolstering priority workforce, growing pathways for Māori, growing pathways for Pasifika, driving local led innovation, supporting workforce, and retaining workforce.
"We're already delivering rural training in innovative ways through the workforce plan... however, we accept we need to grow our medical workforce and we're doing that work."
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