Dr McPhee said RDAQ endorses the Australian Medical Association (AMA)'s submission to the Senate inquiry into Australia's Rural Health Workforce which points out the failures of traditional medical schools within Australian universities to address the doctor shortage plaguing rural and regional Australia.

"The AMA report confirms that old-fashioned courses have failed to attract and train a sufficient number of country students.

"There are just not enough country kids getting into medical schools," Dr McPhee said.

Cloncurry GP and North and West Queensland Primary Health Care (NWQPHC) President Dr Bryan Connor said Flinders Medical Centre in Cloncurry was well ahead of the game on this issue.

"We've really pioneered this in Cloncurry to provide training in the regions.

"Flinders is an accredited training practice with both the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.

"We currently have three GP registrars working towards their fellowship in rural general practice, and we also have a sixth year medical student for five months, and a fourth year medical student for five weeks from James Cook University," Dr Connor said.

He said he has been invited to the RDAQ Conference in June to speak on the topic of training medical students in the regions.

"We are fortunate to have the Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health (MICRRH) as an offshoot of James Cook University, which means medical students get exposure here in the North West."

The RDAQ wants to go one step further and have endorsed establishing an Office of Rural Training within Queensland Government, guided by strong leadership from established rural doctors.

Dr McPhee said a rural student, trained in a rural medical school, is four to 12 times more likely to return to country practice.

"More country students and more country training: the answer is that simple."