A new medical education centres at Charles Darwin University enable students to undertake an entire four-year medical degree in the Northern Territory.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard opened the medical centre, which will help train more Indigenous doctors to work in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory under the Flinders University Northern Territory Medical Program.
Up to 24 students began the course this year, with enrolments increasing to 40 per year in the future.
Ms Gillard said: "We know that positive training experiences often influence where doctors choose to practice. That is why giving trainee doctors positive experiences in the Territory is so important."
Flinders and Charles Darwin Universities and the Australian and Northern Territory Governments have worked together on developing the Northern Territory Medical Program, which the Government hopes will address medical workforce shortages in the Territory.
The Federal Government is providing $27.8 million over three years for the Flinders University NT Medical Program, $14 million of which will fund the new teaching and education centre.
An additional $6.6 million is being provided over four years from 2010-11 towards running costs.
While visiting the centre, Ms Gillard was faced by a protestor who jumped over a plastic chair to lunge at her. The prime minister's security detail stopped the man and escorted him away.
According to reports, he was protesting the construction of a nuclear waste facility in Central Australia.