Mackay Hospital receives an intake of 31 new junior doctors

Meet some of the new doctors who will be looking after your community in 2024, including an overseas couple and a Moranbah local. READ MORE.

The new interns practice on an extremely sophisticated anatomically correct dummy. Photo: Fergus Gregg

A Canadian who is part of the 31-strong cohort of junior doctors starting at Mackay Base Hospital is excited he might be able to treat an injury he might never see in his native country - crocodile bites.

While Levi Atamanchuk and his partner Jacqueline Tan, a fellow Canadian, are new to the area, it’s quite the opposite for their colleague Kate Robinson.

The Moranbah local has returned to the region to focus on rural medicine.

“Growing up in the country sells you on medicine pretty early on,” Dr Robinson said.

“You see the discrepancies in health care between the country and the cities.

“I’m excited to see where that takes me in my career.”

This group of interns will work primarily in the Mackay Base Hospital, but will have the opportunity to rotate to facilities across the region.

Levi Atamanchuk, Jacqueline Tan, Kate Robinson and Flaviu Bocos

Dr Tan and Dr Atamanchuk have been living in Australia since 2020, attended Griffith University medical school together and are now embarking on the next step of their career together in Mackay.

“We met in undergrad, trying to get into medicine in Canada,” Dr Tan said.

“We noticed each other in class.

“It was fate.”

Jacqueline and Levi visited the Mackay Hospital open day in 2023 and after 24 hours in Mackay, decided it was the place they wanted to do their internship. Photo: Fergus Gregg

The two attended Trinity Western University in British Columbia, where they studied sciences and biology at an undergraduate level.

Dr Tan and Dr Atamanchuk cited Australia’s “world-renowned medical training” as the reason for their emigration in 2020.

“It’s going to be a different experience,” Dr Atamanchuk said.

“As international students we’re not allowed to do rural placements.

“We’re both from small towns in Canada, so we have more experience with small communities.

“Tropical communities with things like shark bites and croc bites, it’s definitely going to be a new adventure.”

Kate and Jacqueline draw blood from the test dummy in a medical exercise. Photo: Fergus Gregg

Dr Robinson is looking to start on a rural generalist program with the goal to become a general practitioner for rural communities.

While Dr Robinson is returning home to the Mackay region, Dr Atamanchuk and Dr Tan believe they’ve found a new one.

“It reminds us of home, everyone's so friendly compared to the (Gold) Coast,” Dr Atamanchuk said.

“The community seems really close knit.”

Dr Tan said, “We want to build a solid foundation and see as many patients as we can.”

Charles Pain Chief Medical Officer for the Mackay Hospital welcomed the new intake of Junior Doctors to his hospital. Photo: Fergus Gregg

Mackay Hospital chief medical officer Dr Charles Pain welcomed the group of new interns to the hospital on January 12.

“We’ve got 31 new interns,” he said, standing in front of four of his brightest junior doctors.

“It’s quite daunting starting at your first hospital, I was there 40 years ago, believe it or not.

“They are the real foundation of this hospital in the sense that they see our patients everyday at their bedsides and they work very closely with our nurses.

“They will, I hope, get very good training here.

“We are delighted to welcome them.”