317 new junior doctors, nurses and midwives have been welcomed to NT hospitals in 2025
Hundreds of new junior doctors, nurses and midwives have been welcomed to Northern Territory hospitals this year as part of a variety of training programs. Read the details.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
More than 300 new junior doctors, nurses and midwives have been welcomed to Northern Territory hospitals in January.
Of a total of 317, 55 graduate doctors and 184 Resident Medical Officers began working in hospitals in Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs with some of the cohort to complete rotations at hospitals in Katherine, Nhulunbuy and Tennant Creek.
Seventy-eight graduate nurses and midwives are expected to enter the Territory workforce by March 2025, according to NT Health, with goals to reach 300 by the end of the year.
Last year, 233 junior doctors were employed at NT Health hospitals, while the full 2024 intake for nursing and midwifery graduates was 244.
A variety of career pathways are offered to junior doctors in NT Health hospitals, which offer rotations in a range of areas, including anaesthetics, ICU, general medicine, renal medicine, cardiology, haematology, oncology, infectious diseases, pediatrics, general surgery, emergency medicine and more.
Gabriel Jackson, an intern doctor at Royal Darwin Hospital, said before becoming a doctor he was a nurse in the NT for more than 10 years.
“These experiences led me to understand the unique challenges and rewards of providing healthcare in the Territory, particularly in Indigenous health”, he said.
Dr Jackson said he did not see himself leaving the Territory.
“The broad spectrum of medicine and nursing the Territory offers is like nothing else Australia has.
“I’m really proud to be here and I’m really proud to continue on as a doctor.
“I looking forward to giving back to the community; I love working here.”
Minister for Health Steve Edgington said the 2025 cohort of health professionals were passionate about living and working in the Territory and dedicated to learning about the health needs unique to each region of the Territory.
“This is a great outcome for the Northern Territory”, he said.
“One of the advantages of having health staff here in the Northern Territory is that doing their training here provides an opportunity for people to bed down their roots here.”
“We’re looking forward to having our health staff here participating in the health system and from that program, increase our population, increase our workforce, so we can get better outcomes for patients.”
thomas.mclean@news.com.au
‘They’re not waiting for handouts’: ‘Royalty reform’ draws ire of NT land council
A Territory land council GM has hit out at the Finocchiaro government’s “royalty reform”, saying “Aboriginal people themselves are driving reform and doing things differently”. Find out how.
Young boy missing in Darwin reunited with family
NT police say they’ve reunited a missing boy with family, after he was missing for a number of hours.