The teams at Canberra Hospital and Calvary Public Hospital Bruce will have more than 115 bright and shiny new faces starting today, Monday 7 February.
The brand-new junior doctors are set to become part of the incredible health workforce supporting and protecting Canberrans every day of the year.
Starting their first year of practice as interns, the new Junior Medical Officers will become eligible for medical registration after completing one year of supervised training.
Minister for Health, Rachel Stephen-Smith, wanted to thank the new graduates for their choice to start their medical careers in Canberra.
“I know I speak for all Canberrans when I say how very welcome these new doctors are,” Minister Stephen-Smith said.
“Given the impact of COVID-19 on the health system in recent months, particularly as rosters have been affected by high numbers of health care workers in quarantine and isolation, our hospital teams will be supporting the new starters to hit the ground running.
“The Junior Medical Officers starting next week will be an integral part of our health service, providing care where and when Canberrans need it.”
Ninety-five of the new Junior Medical Officers will be joining the team at Canberra Hospital while the remaining 22 will be starting at the Calvary Public Hospital Bruce.
Minister Stephen-Smith commented she was especially pleased to notice there are an equal number of female and male Junior Medical Officers beginning in the public hospital, and Canberra Hospital almost hitting the same mark with 46 women and 49 men.
With 335 applicants vying a spot in the highly-competitive internship program at the Canberra Hospital, two-thirds of those successful graduates completed their studies at the Australian National University (ANU) Medical School.
For the Calvary Public Hospital Bruce, over half of the successful interns also studied at ANU.
Canberra Health Services Acting Executive Director of Medical Services, Ashwin Swaminathan, said both he and his clinical colleagues are looking forward to welcoming the new team members.
“Our role is to support and nurture these new graduates and to build on the excellent medical training that they have already received,” Dr Swaminathan said.
“It is challenging at any time for a new doctor to begin work in a busy hospital and particularly so in the context of a pandemic.”
Canberra Hospital incoming Junior Medical Officer, Dr Gabrielle Gross, studied at ANU and said she is looking forward to putting her many years of medical training into practice and give back to the community at the same time.
“It’s been hard during my education to see the impact COVID-19 has had on our city and I’m keen to get involved and help out in my new role,” Dr Gross said.
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