Zachary Rubin, medical director of clinical epidemiology and infection prevention, speaks at a news conference by UCLA Health System and county officials at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California February 19, 2015.
In PHOTO: Zachary Rubin, medical director of clinical epidemiology and infection prevention, speaks at a news conference by UCLA Health System and county officials at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California February 19, 2015. The large Los Angeles teaching hospital has told scores of patients they were possibly exposed to a drug-resistant bacterial "superbug" during endoscopy procedures that infected seven patients and may have contributed to two deaths. Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn

New Zealand’s student loan rules are threatening the future of many medical students and many will be forced to discontinue their studies, if there is no proactive intervention from the government. According to New Zealand Medical Students' Association president Elizabeth Berryman, the existing seven-year cap on student loans would make funding a six-year medical degree impossible for anyone, if they possess previous degrees, with effect from 2016.

The norm will force hundreds of medical students to drop out as they will not be able to finish their degrees by 2017, she said. The student leader said the future looks bleak for about 150 students every year, as they may not be able to raise at least $15,000 for the final year of study and in some cases the amount can go upto $30,000.

Minister's Argument Disputed

Berryman criticised Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce for his advice to medical students’ to use the Trainee Intern Grant to pay up their fees. She said the demand to restore loan for postgraduate medical students is logical and that option must be held open for any two year medical coursel. Regarding the minister’s statement, she said it made no sense as Trainee Intern Grant is paid only in the final year. Also, the students cannot avail the grant until they have started the year and paid up their fees.

Elizabeth said the situation can be remedied by adding just one line in the policy saying that medical students are an exemption to the cap."It was not uncommon for medical students to have previous degrees as it is a requirement in many overseas schools,” she argued. However, the Ministry of Education did not make any comment.

Youth Alienated

Meanwhile, a New Zealand Rhodes scholar commented on the unfriendly policies by policy makers that are hurting youth. Author Andrew Dean told TV Nz that student loans, low wages and overpriced housing market are alienating young New Zealanders from their home country and making them feel disenfranchised and disconnected to their own country.

Dean blamed National's 1991 "Mother of all Budgets" for this predicament. He said cutting out welfare, tightening eligibility conditions on student allowances and hardening of student loans made a negative impact on young New Zealanders. The author said the collapse of the youth labour market in the 1980s led to young New Zealanders to seek more higher education to obtain a job or financial security. As a result, younger New Zealanders have been pushed into debt. He said debt has become a forced choice, which his generation is now finding hard to cope with.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)

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