Last Updated: 26 April 2023

Bonded Medical Program

The Bonded Medical Program (BMP) is a Government initiative to help address the shortage of medical professionals in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia. It provides a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) in a medical course in exchange for participants working in those areas after they graduate.

About the program

At least 28% of CSP places in university medical programs across Australia must be set aside for the BMP. Students who accept an BMP offer are required to commit to work in an eligible regional, rural and remote area for 3 years after they complete their course. This is called a ‘return of service obligation’ (RoSO).

Participants can complete their RoSO:

• any time over an 18-year period – it doesn’t have to be continuous
• part time, full time or on a per-day basis
• as a fly-in/fly-out doctor in eligible locations
• up to half pre-fellowship, and the remainder post-fellowship.

Eligible locations are:

• Modified Monash Model locations 2 to 7, which include any location other than metropolitan areas
• Distribution Priority Areas (DPA) for general practitioners, which are locations with a shortage of medical practitioners
• Outer metropolitan Districts of Workforce Shortage (DWS) for specialists, which are locations with poor access to specialists.

Inner metropolitan areas are not eligible locations regardless of status.

To find out which locations are eligible for you to complete your RoSO, you can use the Health Workforce Locator.

The program also maintains a portal, the Bonded Return of Service System (BRoSS), which allows bonded students and doctors to self-manage their reporting obligations, RoSO, and identify eligible locations where they can work.

Eligibility

To be eligible, you must be an Australian citizen or permanent visa holder, and have been offered a bonded place in a medical course at an Australian university. You do not need to be from a rural or remote area.

If you are a New Zealand citizen and have an Australian Permanent Resident Visa, you are eligible for a BMP Scheme place. Special Category Visas are not considered permanent resident visas for the purposes of the scheme. For further information regarding your residency status, please phone 1800 987 104 (Free Call).

How to apply

• Direct entry applicants must apply for a bonded medical program via VTAC as a preference, using VTAC Course Code 2800311251.
• Graduate entry applicants do not need to specifically apply for a BMP. Instead, they should apply as normal for the graduate entry medicine program. All places, including BMP, will then be allocated by the Faculty.