The city is fortunate to have a facility of the calibre of the Orange Health Service, a situation recognised by the medical graduates queuing up for a two-year placement here.

With almost four times as many applicants as there were places it seems Orange offers some of the country’s best and brightest a mix of medical facilities, a respected medical fraternity and an enviable lifestyle which make this a highly sought after location.

The fortunate few chosen to complete their training here can expect to experience a wide variety of work, reflecting the number and diversity of the medical specialists working in Orange and the level of equipment at what is one of the biggest regional hospitals in the nation.

For this community and others in regional Australia it is important that some of the interns come from country areas and all see the attractions of working in a regional area.

While the city of Orange has little trouble in attracting doctors the same cannot be said for smaller centres without the hospital facilities and medical fraternity to support young doctors.

A two-year stint in Orange will not only expose these interns to the medical experience they need, it will give those from metropolitan backgrounds an introduction to country life and some sense of the support that does exist for doctors who choose to make a career in practising rural medicine.

There has been a great deal of public money invested in Orange’s new hospital and the benefits for residents are there for all to see. But there is also a responsibility to help raise the standard of rural medicine beyond the city limits.

Helping achieve that by encouraging some of these interns to stay on in the region when their placements are completed would be a great outcome indeed.