The calls from the Australian Medical Students Association and the Australian Medical Association Queensland also come amid concerns overseas medical students, who add to the pressure on clinical training places, return home after qualifying and will not help reduce the shortage of Australian-trained medicos practising here.

While fee-paying international students comprise about 22 per cent of the current intake of medical students across Queensland's four medical schools, they make up 36 per cent of the intake at the University of Queensland.

But the school's dean, Professor David Wilkinson, said the revenue overseas students generated cross-subsidised the cost of educating Australian students.

"They also cross-subsidise the cost of the research," he said.

In 2006, the university's medical school intake was 263 Commonwealth-subsidised domestic students and 53 fee-paying international students.

This year it took 299 domestic and up to 170 international students, with 40 of the latter places allocated to an arrangement the university has with the Ochsner Clinical School in the US.

UQ receives $19,235 a year from the Federal Government for each domestic medical student. It charges the majority of its 170 international students-- mostly Canadians-- about $48,000 a year.

First and second-year Ochsner students are charged $66,000 a year.

Immediate past president of the AMAQ, Dr Mason Stevenson, said UQ was "revenue raising . . . to fix a financial dilemma that Australian medical schools found themselves in as a result of a succession of decisions by a succession of Australian governments".

While Prof Wilkinson said 75 per cent of foreign students indicated they wanted to stay in Australia long-term, Dr Stevenson said he was led to believe the majority of overseas students returned home after completing training.

AMSA president Ross Roberts-Thomson said medical schools needed more funding for Commonwealth-supported places.

"Increasing international full-fee-paying places for deficiencies in domestic student funding has the potential to decrease the quality of students' clinical training experience," he said.