Graduates facing fewer opportunities

FORMER Onslow College student Kenji Takahashi has spent more than $300,000 on medical training here – but no hospital wants to employ him.

The Japanese national has lived in New Zealand for 10 years and is in his final year of medical school in Dunedin. He will graduate in November, and while his friends are being offered jobs, he is not.

‘‘I’m very disappointed and frustrated at the moment,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m very happy for my friends all getting a job, but I planned to live with out. ‘‘We’ve never guaranteed them jobs . . . The reason for increasing numbers of students at our medical schools is so we can get more New Zealand doctors.’’

The Health Ministry was also contending with how to find places for between 80 and 100 Australiantrained Kiwis who were expected to head home for work.

But New Zealand Medical Association chairman Mark Peterson said my friends so we could all work together but that has just fallen apart.

‘‘This is my home, I’ve spent the last 10 years here from my teenage years, I have so many friends here and I know the healthcare system.’’

Mr Takahashi, 26, who wanted to become a paediatrician, has now been forced to look for jobs overseas.

He hoped the Government addressed the problem, so as not to lose locally trained doctors. ‘‘It [is] a waste of valuable workforce for the country.’’ figures predicting the influx in 2017 were ‘‘shonky’’, and there should not have been such a scramble to create roles.

‘‘. . . It does seem surprising that we’ve only just realised we need to find places for all of them. It wasn’t well managed.’’

A total of 277 students applied for an internship in the Wellington region – Capital & Coast, Wairarapa and Hutt Valley – and 43 were of-

In Australia last year, 162 international students were left without jobs.

In response, that government created 116 new internships. District health boards prioritise New Zealand citizens or residents, for whom they receive a $30,000-a-year subsidy.

Mr Takahashi is on a student visa, but was hoping to be sponsored because doctors – both GPs and specialists – are on the Immigration New Zealand skills shortage list. In previous years, interns have been sponsored. fered positions. This was three more than in previous years, a CCDHB spokesman said.

After residency, interns were chosen based on academic scores, interview results and references. No non-residents were offered roles.

‘‘The mismatch is an absolute failure ... that’s by no means the end of the matter,’’ Green Party health spokesman Kevin Hague said.