The lure of life in the big smoke looms large over many of the country’s future highly skilled professional workers.

Even with many quality tertiary courses increasingly available in Bendigo via La Trobe University, capital cities and the lifestyles on offer hold tremendous appeal.

Those who move away from regional areas often do so with the intention of returning once they finish their studies.

However, a lot can happen between the formative ages of 18 and, say, 25, rendering those long-held plans redundant.

Bendigo’s brain drain is even more pronounced when it comes to its ability to attract and retain medical practitioners.

Statistics indicate that 20 per cent of new medical students plan on working in the country once they graduate, but that figure drops to 17.8 per cent upon completion of their training.

The Bendigo Rural Clinical School, which is run by Monash and Melbourne universities, provide about 25 places a year for third, fourth and fifth-year medical students for study. But, in order to specialise, they must move away to a metropolitan centre for an additional five to 10 years of training.

La Trobe University, in partnership with Charles Sturt University, has an ambitious $46 million plan it claims will ensure more regional students are not only trained as doctors, but stay in the area to practice.

The Murray Darling Medical School would see 180 medical students enrolled across campuses in Bendigo, Wagga and Orange. “Our argument is that having a vibrant regionally-based medical school in Victoria and NSW is an essential first step in getting students specialisation opportunities in the regions,” La Trobe vice-chancellor Professor John Dewar maintains.

It is undoubtedly an exciting prospect, but will it actually address the core issues?

The Australian Medical Students’ Association does not think so. It would prefer the aforementioned $46 million be spent on increasing specialist training in regional areas.

But if the proposed new medical school provides these regional areas with a critical mass of medical students, it will surely help shake loose the funding needed to prise specialist training services away from the major cities.

- Ross Tyson, deputy editor