CareFlight has welcomed its newest cohort of medical registrars to the Northern Territory, marking the next chapter in a long-running program that is building and sustaining the Territory’s future medical workforce.
Since 2012, more than 225 registrars have completed CareFlight’s NT training program, gaining advanced skills in aeromedical retrieval and remote emergency care. This experience keeps many doctors in the Territory long term.
The 2026 cohort will spend their rotation delivering critical care across 600,000 square kilometres of remote Top End communities, where CareFlight transported more than 8,000 patients over the past year, the majority from remote First Nations communities.
Medical Director Professor James Hooper said the registrar program equips doctors with skills they simply cannot get in metropolitan hospitals.
“Delivering advanced critical care on a dirt airstrip in 45-degree heat or at a roadside emergency hundreds of kilometres from a hospital is very different from hospital practice. This experience makes you a better critical care doctor and problem solver.”
Many former CareFlight registrars have progressed to become Medical Retrieval Consultants (MRCs), leading complex, critical missions and shaping patient care across the NT. Many others now hold key roles in emergency departments, anaesthesia, critical care and retrieval services across the region.
One example is Dr Cristy Rowe, who is continuing her career in the Northern Territory following her CareFlight registrar rotation.
“CareFlight taught me skills of flexibility and resilience that I can take back into the operating theatre, helping me continue to care for the communities we serve,” Dr Rowe said.
Another example is Dr Dush. His career began in the Northern Territory, where an early experience in Gunbalanya during a wet-season emergency first connected him to aeromedical retrieval. After returning as a CareFlight registrar in 2023, he gained hands-on experience delivering critical care, working alongside pilots, ACOs and nurses. Now a specialist with CareFlight in Sydney, he says the skills, resilience and judgement he developed in the Top End remain central to how he practises today. His interstate experience is broadening his expertise but ultimately strengthening the capability he can bring back to remote and regional communities.
“The NT shaped the doctor I am today,” Dr Dush said. “Every challenge, every retrieval and every complex case-built skill I carry with me wherever I work and it all strengthens what I can give back to the Territory.”
