A medical student wants to become NZMA President

NZ Doctor reports:

NZMA president Pippa MacKay says the lobby group’s future will be imperilled if a medical student becomes chair of the association.

But Elizabeth Berryman, a sixth-year medical student who is one of three candidates for the position, says the organisation needs a change.

Voting in NZMA elections opened on 29 March, and members have until 24 April to have their say.

Dr MacKay says the fact a medical student is running for chair is unprecedented and poses a risk to the future of the organisation.

“I’m concerned someone who is not yet a doctor could represent me and other senior doctors,” says Dr MacKay, a Christchurch GP.

She says medical students make up a significant proportion of the NZMA’s membership, because they can join for free, and a student block vote could see Ms Berryman elected.

Berryman may only be a medical student but she is 29, not 22. Good on her for shaking things up by standing.

Having said that I agree it would damage the credibility of NZMA to have a President who isn’t even a registered doctor. What if she failed her final exams?

But if NZMA is silly enough to give away free voting membership to medical students and not have any eligibility clause for officers saying you must be a registered doctor, then they are partly the author of their own troubles.