The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) has welcomed 69 new medical interns who will take up positions at public hospitals in the area.
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The new interns started this week and will complete two weeks of orientation before starting their new roles.
The bulk of the interns - 52 - will head to Wollongong Hospital, while nine will go to Shoalhaven Hospital, three will go to Shellharbour Hospital, four will go to Bulli Hospital and one will go to Port Kembla Hospital.
Interns are medical graduates who have completed their medical degree. They must complete a year of supervised practice in order to become independent practitioners, during which they rotate between different hospitals and services.
ISLHD chief executive Margot Mains welcomed the new interns and said the pandemic meant it was not the first time many had stepped inside a hospital.
"The intern class of 2022 is a little different to previous years, with many interns having already worked either as assistants in medicine or student vaccinators as part of the COVID-19 workforce response across NSW, and we thank them for their contribution," she said.
"They will continue to play a vital role in our district's hospitals as we navigate the challenges of this unprecedented, world-wide pandemic."
The interns, who are employed on two-year contracts as junior medical officers, enter a training program with networked hospitals throughout the state, where they undertake formal and on-the-job training. They rotate between metropolitan, regional and rural hospitals to ensure diversity of experience, and also join different units in each hospital, including surgery and emergency medicine.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said a record 1073 interns joined the NSW Health ranks this year - 32 more than last year.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward welcomed the new interns on Thursday.
"Our local community owes a huge debt of gratitude to our local health teams who have worked around the clock to keep us safe, especially over the past two years," said Mr Ward.
"I am incredibly pleased that these new interns have the opportunity to learn from the world-class doctors at our local hospitals across the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Local Health District and play a significant role in navigating the challenges of the COVID pandemic."