From city roots to rural routes: Kamil Ibrahim’s medical journey

WHEN Kamil Ibrahim moved from New Zealand to Australia at 15, he was set for a life in the city. However, as a final-year medical student at Monash University, Kamil’s immersion in rural health has profoundly shaped his aspirations and perspectives.

After finishing Year 12 and enrolling in the Monash University’s Extended Rural Cohort (ERC) within the medicine course, Kamil initially felt skeptical about spending so much time away from metropolitan areas.

The ERC guarantees significant exposure to clinical placements in rural and regional areas of Victoria – a prospect that seemed daunting to Kamil, who described himself as a “city boy.”

Fast-forward several years, and Kamil is completing his clinical placement at Bendigo Health, describing his rural experience as “awesome”.

Like all ERC students, Kamil spent his first two years studying at Monash’s Clayton campus. However, his first year coincided with COVID lockdowns, making it a challenging time to engage with the usual university lifestyle.

He recalls, “We didn’t get the chance to have the usual university student experience of meeting up, having lectures together, chatting afterwards.”

It wasn’t until his rural placements in Year 3B at Sale, Year 4C at Warragul and Gisborne, and now in Bendigo in his final year that Kamil found true camaraderie and hands-on learning opportunities. “I have loved the rural placements,” he says. “They’ve allowed me to be part of a team and be more hands-on than I think I would have been at a metro hospital.”

During his placement at Bendigo Health, Kamil participated in a Scholarly Intensive Placement (SIP) – a six-week program that enables final-year medical students to delve deeply into professional practice issues.

Collaborating with Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Kamil’s research focused on improving outcomes for patients who have a cardiac arrest, specifically by enhancing the globally used CPR algorithm.

Amid regular classes at Monash Rural Health Bendigo, Kamil discovered a passion for exploring Bendigo and training across diverse clinical settings, including hospitals, GP clinics, and Indigenous community health services. These experiences solidified his ambition to eventually become a surgeon.

“The clinical skills curriculum at Bendigo has been a standout experience,” Kamil said.

Weekly classes simulate real-world medical scenarios, allowing students to practice procedures like drawing blood, administering oxygen, handling unconscious patients, and trauma simulations. “These high-pressure situations have given me invaluable exposure,” he says. “I think I’ll be much more confident as a junior doctor next year.”

Professor Shane Bullock, Head of Monash Rural Health, underscored the importance of programs such as the ERC.

“It is our experience that by providing metro-based medical students like Kamil immersive extended rural placements and an opportunity to be part of a regional community often leads them to choose to work in regional Victoria once they become doctors.”

For Kamil, this journey has been transformative.

“Even if I’m metro-based after graduation, I’ll always ensure I practice in regional areas regularly and return for further training. The ERC program has truly changed my perspective,” he said.

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