AN online campaign supporting Charles Sturt Universitys push for a medical school is closing in on its target of 25,000 supporters on its Facebook page.

Almost 17,000 people have now liked CSUs Doctors For The Bush page, supporting a campaign to bring more general practitioners to country areas and establishing a new medical school.

Thousands have also signed an online petition that states: I call on the Federal and NSW Governments to back CSUs plan to establish a Health and Medical Education Precinct in rural NSW and commit to providing $98 million in funding and 80 medical student places to make this a reality.

The online campaign is the latest plank in CSUs bid to pressure state and federal MPs to back CSUs ongoing push for an integrated medical school across the Bathurst and Orange campuses.

It would be a huge boost to both the reputation of the university and to regional health services, with figures showing that doctors who train in the bush are more likely to remain working in the bush after they graduate.

CSU has already submitted a detailed funding proposal to the Federal Government but though Coalition MPs at a state and federal level have been happy to pledge their support, the university has so far been unable to convince Regional Australia Minister Simon Crean of the plans benefits.

CSU last week confirmed NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner had formally invited the university to start negotiations with the government on the student numbers, medical training requirements and infrastructure for a new medical school at CSU.

This is fantastic news, a post on the Facebook page said.

However, this is just a first step as final approval for a new school must be granted by the Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek.

Help us to show the government what rural people want. Today we start a campaign to get 25,000 signatures on our petition and 25,000 supporters on Facebook.

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CSU medical school support snowballing