Each medical school is required to offer a certain number of MRBS places and so will continue to approach students until these have all been accepted.
Note, this description of medical school offers has deliberately excluded full-fee and international places for simplicity.
[3] The only distinction that would significantly alter the cost of tuition at medical school is a full-fee paying place, which is not subsidised by the government.
Full-fee paying places have been eliminated for domestic undergraduate students, but are still offered by some graduate-entry medical schools.
Doctors who have graduated from a MRBS program must work 6 years in a rural area, starting no later than 12 months after they have completed their fellowship.
This can include a specialty in an urban area that is experiencing a shortage, or an outer suburb of a large metropolitan city.
The scholarship is paid in 10 equal monthly installments from March to December, for as many years as it takes to complete the medical course.
As part of the scheme, participants also receive a range of additional support services from the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM).
[8] Speaking in the House of Representatives, Michelle O'Byrne said On 10 September 1998, in a press release, the minister stated: The scholarships are probably unconstitutional due to the limitation in section 51 preventing civil conscription of doctors.
"[2] As of 2010, a legal constitutional challenge has been filed in the Federal Court of Australia to the MRBS scheme in Edwards v Commonwealth, Secretary Department of Health And Ageing and Ors.
Many students may not realise the length of their obligations or fully understand the ramification of their decision to accept the scholarship.
Speaking in parliament Mr. Dick Adams (Lyons) stated: As I said, this bill is really about bashing people to achieve a goal.
It sets out conscription on people which might be a contractual arrangement for 17 years and then you take away the Medicare ticket so they cannot get payment.
However these penalties are all clearly laid out in the contract and concessions are made if you need time to start a family or other exceptional circumstances occur.
Some have criticised the scholarships, stating that they limit the ability of medical students to specialise in their chosen field.