By Sean Martin-Iverson
PERTH — An announcement by the private, Catholic Notre Dame University that it intends to open a new medical school has been condemned by student activists and the WA branch of the National Union of Students.
Notre Dame's plan for a private, fee-paying medical school would require a change to federal law and the cooperation of the University of Western Australia (UWA), and is still a fair way from fruition.
Notre Dame will have to overcome significant opposition from students, academics and medical practitioners, who reject not only the idea of privatised education but also that a private Catholic medical school will result in improved health care.
While WA is short of medical practitioners, particularly in rural areas, there are no signs of more government funding for teaching hospitals or increased GP training places or internships. In fact, funding for the medical system has been continuously slashed. Thus, the Notre Dame plan would result in a greater number of medical students without any more jobs for doctors.
The private university claims that its proposal will expand "choice" and "diversity". However, how much "choice" will be offered to medical students to be trained in procedures opposed by the Catholic church?
According to Trisha Reimers, a Resistance activist at UWA and a member of the International Women's Day collective, "The Catholic church is opposed to abortion, contraception and many fertility procedures and a Catholic medical school would be a step backwards for women.
"Training in abortion procedures is already an 'optional' part of medical education and services. The opening of a Catholic medical school, rather than more public services, would make access to abortion even more difficult, and the proportion of doctors in WA who are able and willing to provide this procedure would probably decline."
Michael Dickinson and Rosie Dawkins, representatives of the WA Medical Students' Society, point out in the UWA student newspaper, Pelican, that, with no science faculty, Notre Dame would not be able to operate a medical school on its own. Private students at Notre Dame would have to make use of UWA's teaching and library facilities, thus benefiting from public funding. This cooperative venture could also be used as a pretext for UWA to itself offer fee-paying places in medicine.
So far, UWA has not indicated either support or opposition to the plan, although a UWA-Notre Dame working party is being established. WA student guilds have yet to take a public stand on the issue and while the WA Medical Students' Society has expressed opposition, it has so far been hesitant about campaigning on the issue.
The National Union of Students in WA and the UWA Education Action Network have declared their opposition. They have circulated a joint statement against the proposal and plan to incorporate the issue into their campaign against the privatisation of higher education.