'Forgivable' medical loans proposed - graduate jobs

Doctors have said that medical students should have their debts repaid if they work for the NHS, to help them combat mounting school loans.

Medical students from poorer backgrounds, who face an average debt of £37,000 once they leave school or £57,000 if they study in London, or being deterred from the profession because of rising costs.

Only 13% of students who go on to study medicine come from lower socio-economic groups.

The increasing costs have led to suggestions of "forgivable loans", where the medical student would be allowed to repay the debt gradually if they commit to working for the NHS.

The idea was raised ahead of a motion over medical loans at the British Medical Association (BMA) conference in Brighton.

One scenario could see 10% of the loan's value paid off for each year of NHS service.

Other proposals could mean writing off the entire debt in one go, or part of the debt, leaving students to pay the rest.

Tom Foley, 28, from Newcastle, who is proposing the motion, said students accepted their five-year courses could not be free.

But he said poorer students were "afraid to take the risk" with the huge amounts of debt involved.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA, said: "There are often barriers to students from disadvantaged backgrounds getting into medical school in terms of educational ones, without putting a whole range of financial barriers in place."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "The Department is currently examining the system of support for medical students, as well as students in other healthcare-related disciplines."