The 20 aspiring medicos from the Uni-versity of NSW will visit the property as part of an “up country” weekend – a tactic designed to lure doctors away from the cities.

The group of mostly metropolitan based students arrived at Tam-worth Base Hospital yesterday where they became acquainted with working life at the region’s major referral centre.

Today they will travel to Manilla to spend time with Dr Cam Hend-erson and the remainder of their visit enjoying an “outback” experience at the farm owned by the father of second-year medical student, Gwynn Forrest.

Mr Forrest and fellow student Brendan McManus, also from Manilla, were instrumental in coaxing their contemporaries to give the bush a go.

Mr Forrest has thought long and hard about becoming a doctor but the widespread GP shortage in the bush has him convinced.

“If I can come out here and add more doctors to the district then it’s good enough for me,” Mr Forrest said yesterday.

It is an initiative applauded by the Tamworth Base Hosp-ital’s Rural Training Unit director Dr John Fraser.

“They’ll get an overview of what it’s like working in a country area and will meet with a variety of health professionals at different stages,” Dr Fraser said.

Dr Fraser said Mr McManus had previously been involved in presentations at local schools where he talked to school leavers about health careers.

“It’s encouraging. If local kids can come out here and talk to school kids about medicine, they’re more likely to think about it as a career,” he said.

Both Mr Forrest and Mr McManus began their studies in medicine at the university through the new rural training scheme.

Mr Forrest said the opportunity has provided an alternative to following in his father’s footsteps.

“Dad always encouraged myself, my brother and sister to further our education so we had something to fall back on,” he said

“I took up medicine and now want to be able to help out with the situation facing rural areas.”