The third medical school was green-lit last week and will open in 2028 with the capacity for 120 students per year.
In a statement, Health Minister Simeon Brown said the new school would have a strong focus on primary care and rural health.
"With $82.85million in government funding and over $150m from the university, supported by philanthropic investment, this is a substantial commitment to education and regional development in the Waikato," Mr Brown said.
Waitaki MP Miles Anderson said the new medical school would help combat the dwindling GP numbers in districts like Waitaki.
"It’s certainly good news for provincial New Zealand because the new medical school is going to have a focus on rural medicine," Mr Anderson said.
"It’s a common complaint around the country in provincial areas where GPs are hard to come by. This is one part of the plan to firstly train doctors in rural medicine, and then have them placed around the country in the provinces."
Waitaki residents will have to wait until 2030 before they see the "direct impact" of the school, Mr Anderson said.
In the meantime, he said the government was not sitting on its hands.
"There are changes happening.
"We’ve increased the number of doctors in Health New Zealand by 500 since we came into office.
"There are a number of policies in place to encourage more doctors from overseas into New Zealand.
"Patient outcomes are the driver for a lot of this change."
