Hospital’s new interns check in

BENDIGO Health welcomed its latest round of interns this week with thirty-nine new doctors taking up roles at Bendigo Hospital for the next year.

The interns will start their rotations next week, which will see them spending time practicing several medical specialities as they look to gain valuable experience in the field.

Supervisor of intern training Dr Vishnu Jeganathan said it’s a major development for the doctors in their young careers.

“They will go through a wide variety of locations including general medicine, surgery, emergency, psychiatry and neurology,” he said.

“It’s an exciting time for them after going through five to six years of medical school, finally getting to put it into practice.”

Director of the medical workforce unit Hannah Cole said she is hoping many of the interns will decide to make Bendigo Hospital their home into the future following the completion of their internship.

“In the past we have had a 30 to 40 percent retention rate, unfortunately this past year we haven’t been able to retain as many doctors,” she said.

“We are hoping that this year, post pandemic, to really appeal to them and get them to stay.”

A strong retention rate from this year’s cohort is just the first step in a plan to help the people of Bendigo gain better access to the medical care they need.

“We are intending from 2024 to increase our numbers as well so that we can build our work force and cater to the many patients in the community that need our services,” Ms Cole said.

Dr Andrew Cobden is one of the interns about to start and said it was the care that Bendigo Health show for the community that really appealed to him about the position.

“I liked how they talked about every person, getting better care every time,” he said.

“That is something that I am really passionate about. Treating every patient like they are an individual and more than just their disease.”