Attracting doctors to Aboriginal services a challenge: Rural Doctors

The WA Rural Doctors Association says the state and federal governments must work together to attract medical professionals to work in Indigenous health.

The association has endorsed comments by the Australian Medical Students Association that Indigenous health education in medical schools needs to improve if the Federal Government is to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancies.

The President of the WA Rural Doctors Association, Rob Whitehead, says despite a strong focus on training medical students in Aboriginal health, attracting graduates to remote areas remains a challenge.

"At the moment in Western Australia we do have a crisis in terms of attracting doctors to work in Aboriginal medical services," he said.

"I think the more students can be exposed to working in these services before they graduate, the more likely they are to come back down the track."