Politicians are looking at using an incentive-based system of writing off student loans to encourage young doctors to stay in New Zealand.
"Incentive-based debt relief is a way to improve retention rates of medical graduates in New Zealand, by offering loan write-offs at the point of graduation," said Anna Dare, president of the Medical Students Association.
Ms Dare, who has finished her first five years of medical studies in Auckland and faces years more work to become a surgeon, said she had reason to believe that some political parties were considering such loan write-downs for inclusion in their election manifestos.
"We've talked to both the Government and the Opposition about this," she said. The Government had indicated it was willing to consider an incentive scheme and the National Party had been supportive of a similar concept.
Ms Dare was speaking at a Medical Council briefing in Wellington for journalists on changes in the medical workforce. Associate Health Minister Steve Chadwick also spoke, but later resiled from having her responses to questions reported.
Ms Dare emphasised the debt relief should not be part of a bond.
"A bond is different - it binds students on entry to medical school to prolonged periods of service after graduation," she said.
"A bond forces you to work in the community - an incentive-based debt relief scheme encourages you to see New Zealand as a viable place to work."
Bonds to which students committed years earlier could result in them making extreme efforts to escape the requirement, and the NZ public did not want doctors who felt forced to work in their community.
"We just need to be making sure that New Zealand does the most that it can to make it a viable place for graduates to practice - rewarding people for staying".
If people could "earn" a loan write-off by staying for two years after graduation, and a further write-off after five years, it would mean they remained in the country for the important period when most young people made social commitments such as starting a family and setting up home.
After that, even if they moved overseas, there was a good chance factors such as family relationships would bring them back.
"It's a short-term solution with medium to longterm benefits," said Ms Dare. "We lose a lot of our graduates in the first three post-graduate years when they're in their 20s: they move overseas and make life choices like buying a house offshore and starting a family which make it harder to return".
Many medical students came from middle-class homes which did not qualify for means-tested study allowances and bonds, and were left with considerable debt.
Medical students were paying about $11,000 a year in fees, and finishing with average student debt of $66,000, and some who had done two degrees owed over $100,000.
