AMSA's Placement Poverty Campaign.
Fighting to end placement poverty for medical students.
The cost of living crisis is particularly exacerbated for medical students due to placement poverty and the hidden costs of completing a medical degree.
AMSA's Cost of Living Campaign
The Australian Bureau of Statistics highlighted real household disposable income had fallen 4.3% in 2023. Yet, the price of groceries, rent, property, and bills have risen, leading to more Australians living pay check to pay check.
The cost of living crisis is particularly exacerbated for medical students due to placement poverty and the hidden costs of completing a medical degree.
Why should medical students get paid placements?
1. Medical placements are long and inflexible- which uniquely drives placement poverty.
2. We must support students who are hardest hit by the cost of living crisis – they’ll become the doctors we need the most.
3. Medical students are the untapped solution to our health workforce shortage – but they need our support.
How can you get involved?
- Raise awareness amongst your peers, communities and universities
- Keep an eye out on this page for AMSA’s rollout of the Cost of Living Campaign
- Contact your local MP to support our cause. Find a template email here
Sign the AMSA Paid Placement Petition
Write to the Minister for Education!
Share your story with Jason Clare, the Minister for Education. Let him know that the time to end placement poverty for medical students is now. We recommend printing off the letter and mailing it physically – it's much easier for a parliamentary office to ignore an email!
Testimonials From Medical Students About Placement Poverty
Want to share your own story of placement poverty? Share your story.
How AMSA is Campaigning for Medical Students
AMSA understands that cost of living is a major concern for medical students. We are fighting for paid clinical placements to end placement poverty. Secondarily, we are campaigning for more flexible placement arrangements for vulnerable students. The three main arms of AMSA’s advocacy for cost of living are: consultation, awareness raising, and action.
- Student forums (e.g. 2023 AMSA Student COL Consultation)
- News stories (e.g. 2023 ABC Q+A appearances)
- MedSocs and AMSA Reps
- AMSA councils
- AMSA Groups
- Social Media
- Media releases (2023 MR, 2024 Pre-budget submission)
- AMSA volunteer engagement (AMSA Policies: Student Income Support)
- Government (e.g. in 2023, the AMSA National Coordinator attended a Parliamentary Press Conference regarding the cost of living)
- Media articles (e.g. ausdoc, abc, medicalrepublic)
- Educational campaigns
- Lobbying with the government (e.g. in 2024, AMSA President (Allen) and Vice President External (Jade) went to Canberra to directly lobby with federal politicians for paid student placement)
- Engaging with grassroots and national level advocacy
- Events demanding action
Placement Poverty in the Media – AMSA Makes Some Noise
Medical schools ‘price out the doctors we need the most’
Medical students who are struggling financially say they are shocked that a $427 million budget investment to pay students during placements will not include medicine.
‘Placement poverty' burning out medical students amid cost of living, housing crises pressure
Allen Xiao, a medical student at the University of Melbourne and president of the Australian Medical Students’ Association, said he would like to see the government address the financial pressure that medical students face from placement.
“It’s welcome news that nursing, teaching and social work students have gotten this payment and that the government is recognizing that these professions are vital to our health care and society at large,” he said.
“All we are asking is that the government also put medical students on the agenda.”
He said the pressures of placement, where students can sometimes be required to commit to 40 hours a week, have a serious impact on students.
“Rural students and those from a lower socioeconomic status find it harder and harder to become doctors because of the cost of relocating,” he said.
“The students who are hardest hit in this crisis are the ones who become the doctors we need the most.”
Medical students are required to do 2,000 placement hours and were very disappointed to miss out on the scheme.
“It's vital nurses, teachers and social work students get support, but it's equally important for the government to consider the way medical degree requirements almost uniquely foster placement poverty,” said Allen Xiao, president of the Australian Medical Student's Association.
Mr Xiao said universities demanded placements be carried out full-time, leaving students with very limited capacity to support themselves.
At times students may even need to pay double rent if they had to travel long distances for placements, particularly if they were studying at a university in the regions.
Mr Xiao said the lack of support was hitting medical students from under-served communities.
“A lot of the students affected by a lack of support, don't have a lot of resources or familial support on placement and they are the doctors we need the most. They return to the country or low socio-economic communities to work,” he said.
Australian Medical Students Association president Allen Xiao, also a third-year student, said the cost of pursuing medicine “prices out” people from disadvantaged backgrounds who would otherwise make good doctors.
“To be very clear, I think it’s good that the government has recognised the reality of placement poverty and the reality that it’s not sustainable to have hours and hours of unpaid placement without any means to support yourself,” he told TMR.
“But I think that I think it’s also time for the government to recognise that there’s obviously a massive equity issue here.”
AMSA has started an online petition for medical students to be included in paid placement reforms which has gained almost 10,000 signatures over just a week and a half.
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