Auckland and Otago final year medical students get paid - is it fair? NZ Doctor explains

 

 
 
 
The final year of medical school (MBChB) in New Zealand - students are given a stipend of about 26700 NZ Dollars. This seems like a large amount of money, if received in one bulk sum.

Reality is, for students living in Auckland New Zealand, it may not be enough to fund their weekly living, transport and food costs if they are living out alone. Not to mention an elective placement overseas.

In the final year of Auckland medical school in New Zealand,  the elective placement is an 8 week clinical placement (13 weeks in Otago). This can be done in any specialty of the student's choosing and anywhere in the world, as long as it is not unsafe and also the receiving hospital accepts.

The reports of the elective experience can be insightful for first year biomed and health science (premed) students as well as junior medical students. These are accessible via Auckland university library database online if you have university login.

I spent some time in South Korea (Seoul), Neurology (nerves) department at the Severance Yonsei University hospital. This experience was enlightening when I got to observe the differences between the two countries. The experience is enriching for all students - doctors bring back an aspect of their clinical or personal experience and this shapes their future medical practice.

However, it does require some funding - flights, food, transport, accommodation are not cheap. For students from low socioeconomic backgrounds (doctors are not all from wealthy backgrounds) struggle to have this experience overseas even with the help of the TI grant. Sometimes there are things out of their control. If they have family to feed/support, it's a challenge. The student allowance also runs out (200 weeks max) after 5th year. Meanwhile the student loan is also building up 15K pe


First year biomed and health science students and medical students should take note of this before they start - this knowledge may be useful for MMI (Interviews) - every student should know what they are getting themselves into!