The Government has agreed to build a new medical school, costing more than $230 million, at the University of Waikato.
The New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine will offer a four-year graduate programme for students who have completed a three-year undergraduate degree.
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Universities Minister Shane Reti announced the school on Monday, saying Cabinet had agreed to the business case.
The school had been in doubt, with Act leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour raising concerns about its cost.
Last year, Seymour heaped scorn upon an early analysis of the proposal, saying the methodology behind the analysis was flawed.
“Cabinet has approved the business case for the new school, which will have a strong focus on primary care and rural health,” Brown said.
“With $82.85 million in Government funding and over $150 million from the University, supported by philanthropic investment, this is a substantial commitment to education and regional development in the Waikato.
“Today’s decision will enable the University of Waikato to begin construction on new teaching facilities later this year and start planning for clinical placements, while giving more students the opportunity to study medicine in NZ,” Brown said.
Brown said from 2028 the school would add 120 medical training places annually.
“This is on top of the 100 additional medical training places that are being added over the term of this Government across the University of Auckland and University of Otago,” Brown said.
Seymour took credit for forcing the university to shoulder more of the school’s cost, saving the Government money.
“Initial estimates forecast that the taxpayer would need to stump up $280m.
“Today’s announcement confirms they will only need to invest $82.5m.
“This is down to Waikato University agreeing to contribute a higher proportion of the medical school’s costs.
“Act’s rigorous questioning helped ensure a more efficient investment meaning Kiwis get better outcomes for less,” Seymour said.
Seymour took advantage of Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ absence from Wellington on Monday to talk up Act’s money-saving efforts for taxpayers.
The medical school was controversial on the election campaign.
Labour said it would not open a new school, but had a policy of adding places to existing medical schools at the University of Otago and University of Auckland.
Labour said it would train an extra 335 doctors every year from 2027.
Brown said over the course of the current term of Parliament there will be “100 more places per year” at the existing medical schools.
At the 2023 election, the National Party campaigned on building a new medical school at Waikato. The proposal caused controversy for the amount of lobbying undertaken by the university in favour of the new medical school.
RNZ reported the university’s vice-chancellor Professor Neil Quigley received communications advice from former National cabinet minister Steven Joyce (who chairs the board of Herald publisher NZME).
On Monday, the Government acknowledged increasing places at the Otago and Auckland medical schools would have cost less.
However, the business case overall recommended the new medical school due to the benefits it provided, particularly in training more doctors for rural and regional NZ.
The school’s admissions policy would be decided by the university.
However, Brown said “a key part” of the school’s business case was to admit and train rural doctors.
“It will be about people who come forward who have demonstrated commitment to rural communities,” he said.
Brown did not say whether the school would have a Māori and Pacific admissions scheme, like the existing medical schools.
He said the admissions policy was for the university itself. The National-Act coalition agreement agreed to review these schemes at Auckland and Otago.
The Government did not release cost estimates for the other two options and did not release the business case, although it will be released “shortly”, Brown said.
Brown said another option canvassed by the business case was getting the other two medical schools to invest in a “more rural programme”.
“The cost-benefit analysis identified this had the greatest benefits,” he said.
Labour’s health spokeswoman Ayesha Verrall said the business case for the school needed to be released urgently.
“Treasury has raised concerns about this project. Decisions about the future of NZ’s medical workforce are critical and must be transparent. The Government needs to release the costings quickly,” Verrall said.
Quigley said the announcement of a new medical school was a “landmark moment”.
“We will be offering a programme that selects and trains doctors in a fundamentally different way and will complement NZ’s two existing medical schools.
“It will be designed to produce more graduates who choose to become GPs and who want to work in regional and rural communities.”
Pro vice-chancellor health, Professor Jo Lane said the new school would “train the doctors NZ needs”.
“Our curriculum will prioritise clinical placements in regional and rural health settings, allowing graduates to experience working with diverse populations while building deep connections in the communities they serve,” Lane said.
The next step is to deepen engagements with rural and regional communities and primary healthcare providers to finalise clinical placement locations.
The Green Party’s tertiary education spokesman Francisco Hernandez said the Government had chosen to “fritter away money on a risky white elephant project”.
He said the Government “could have chosen to boost training numbers at Auckland and Waikato”.