By Natalie Akoorie of RNZ The business case for a third medical school at the University of Waikato is not expected until next year. University of Waikato vice-chancellor Professor Neil Quigley expects the Ministry of Health’s cost-benefit analysis of the proposal in the first quarter of next year. It comes as the university withdraws a call for tenders on the government procurement website GETS to build the school.
Earlier this month, the university began demolishing the old and vacant B Block to make way for the new medical school. If green-lit, the medical school was expected to open with 120 enrolments in 2027 to help address the country’s drastic shortage of doctors. A business case was agreed in February after the university and Ministry of Health signed a memorandum of understanding.
Quigley said the $380 million estimated to fund the medical school was a figure scaled up to incorporate inflation and the doubling of students from 60 to 120 since the last bid for a third medical school in 2016. That cost was proposed to be split across the Government ($280m) and the university ($100m). The Government’s contribution would include $140m to pay for a new building at the university and renovations of existing labs, and $140m to invest in rural hospitals and other locations to create clinical placement capacity.
“New Zealand has allowed our rural hospital network to run down over the past 30-40 years and this sort of medical school we’re talking about would be a ne.
