Inverell councillors have voted to extend a bush bursary program aimed at attracting medical students to rural hospitals.
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The students will be sponsored $1500 each by council to undertake a two-week placement at Inverell Hospital, Mayor Paul Harmon said.
It follows a successful stint by two student doctors, Alessandra Sarmiento and Yaron Gu, who undertook placement in December last year.
The students juggled their time between the Inverell Medical Centre, Armajun, a local dental surgery and Inverell Imaging and Diagnostics.
"From the feedback we've had, the placements were a great success," Mayor Harmon said.
"It's difficult to encourage medical practitioners to rural areas, so we will provide every opportunity we can because you never know what could come out of it in the future."
The bursaries are offered on an annual basis and are financially supported by those rural councils taking part, as well as the Country Women's Association and the NSW Rural Doctors Network.
But demand far outstrips supply; in the past year there were 116 applications for placements from councils, with just 43 placements available.
Applicants must be in the process of completing the first or second year of a postgraduate medical degree or be in any year of a nursing or midwifery degree.
Successful candidates are paired with a mentor and allocated to a specific location.
During their time in Inverell, the medical students, Ms Sarmiento and Mr Gu, spent time at Inverell Medical Centre, where they were exposed us to a wide range of cases, from chronic diseases to patellar bursitis and skin cancers.
"We had the chance to practice histories, examinations, sonography, vaccinations, and cutaneous surgeries," they said in a report to the Rural Doctors' Network.
"Understanding the complexities of specialist referrals, mental health challenges, and the impact of retiring GPs on waiting times illuminated the multifaceted nature of rural healthcare.
"It was great to assist the nurses with newborn baby measurements, injections and examinations."
Begun in 1996, the Bush Bursary Program has been instrumental in providing students with first-hand exposure to rural health practice. More than 500 students have received bursaries over the past 27 years.
Mayor Harmon said he was also seeking talks with Health Minister Ryan Park over management practices of Hunter New England Local Health District with respect to Inverell Hospital.
"We want an independent inquiry, something definitely needs to be done because it is not working at the moment," Mayor Harmon said.
Last year, a snake bite victim was forced to wait five hours at the hospital, without treatment. Also, last year, the hospital was without an on-call doctor for five days.
Inverell Cr Wendy Wilks formed the Inverell Health Forum to investigate the problems and try find solutions.
Council decided to take part in the bush bursary program to help stave some of the town's medical shortages.
