New Zealand Medical Students Association vice president of engagement Jake Parsons. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman
More than two dozen of our future doctors have not yet been matched with jobs for their first year out of medical school, and some are thinking about heading overseas as a result.
Twenty-five mostly international medical students have not yet got a post-graduate job for next year.
Te Whatu Ora has offered 538 jobs to students, out of a total 563 who applied across the country.
It comes as some GP practices have weeks-long waiting lists, while hospitals and emergency departments around the country struggle with understaffing and ballooning wait times.
For one international student, who does not want to be named, it did not make sense to not be matched with a job after seeing the dire staffing issues at hospitals for herself.
"This year I'm a final year medical student, and we often have to do a lot of jobs that junior doctors need to do because of a shortage of staff."
The matching system, known as ACE, has 3 categories: It prioritises New Zealand students first, then students from Australian universities, and lastly international students who studied here.
"I think it's quite frustrating for us, because we've also trained through all the years during medical school, and we do the same amount of work as domestic students."
She wants to stay in New Zealand, and will keep looking for a job here, but if she cannot find one she will think about moving to Australia.
Te Whatu Ora interim national chief medical officer Nick Baker said the remaining 25 students would join the the national talent pool which was accessible to all employers.
He said Health New Zealand was committed to working with the unmatched graduates to find them roles as soon as possible.
But it was not a guarantee they would get jobs and right now there was not a spot for them.
The student RNZ spoke to felt this did not make sense when they had studied here for six years, want to work here and the health sector seems overwhelmed.
"I think especially now, they're losing a lot of people to Australia, or other countries and they're not actually supporting people who actually want to stay in New Zealand and work here."
New Zealand Medical Students Association vice president of engagement Jake Parsons said medical school in New Zealand was very competitive to get into and produced high quality graduates who have a lot of debt and have poured a lot into their qualifications.
"For these people to not receive job offers, after what is a very long, very challenging degree - it is a real blow for people who've sacrificed an enormous amount of time and money."
Despite there being 25 students without jobs - Parsons said that number didn't tell the whole story.
"My understanding is there's probably many more that know that as international students they're very unlikely to get a job, and so they haven't even applied in the first place."
The number of students being trained is often focused on by politicians, he said, but that was only part of the picture.
"The reality is if we're not funding positions for those junior doctors, then it doesn't matter how many medical students we train. We're just funnelling resources into them, and then they have to go overseas."
Baker said giving spots to these 500+ soon-to-be-doctors, would make a real difference in helping meet the health needs of the communities they'll serve.