Kirsten Dukes, 26, is one of 25 junior medical officers who will walk through the hospital's doors on Monday to begin two years of intensive training.

"I grew up in an area especially throughout schooling times in Forbes where we had GPs [who] also manned the hospital - You go there for birth and you go there to die. There's not much in between," she said.

"There also wasn't a huge opportunity for mental health. There were no psychologists. There were no psychiatrists."

Dr Dukes' passion is psychiatry and if she follows her dream she could become Wagga's first permanent child and adolescent psychiatrist.

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"I figured, alright, let's go for helping the community and give back something they really need. So I thought, 'I'm going to become a doctor and specifically I'm going to become a rural doctor'," she said.

"And mental health was huge, especially growing up in a farming family."

She and fellow JMO Imogen Hines, also 26, studied at Notre Dame and completed their final years at the university's Wagga-based rural clinical school.

Dr Hines and Dr Dukes said they wanted to return to Wagga and were fortunate to be selected for the JMO positions out of more than 100 applicants, who come from universities across NSW and interstate.

"The hospital has such a great reputation for supporting people so everyone wants to come to Wagga," Dr Hines said.

She said she decided to become a doctor while living overseas, when she watched a television programme about rural medical professionals.

"I decided I want to do orthopaedic [surgery] because I loved my rotations in orthopaedics in Wagga. I like it because you can fix patients' problems but also be with them on the journey if it's more of a chronic issue," she said.

This year's junior medical officers form Wagga Base Hospital's largest ever intake and will also have the opportunity to work in Finley, Coolamon, Cootamundra and at the Riverina Aboriginal Medical Service.

The Murrumbidgee Local Health District has struggled with staffing shortages in recent years, particularly at its smaller hospitals which are usually staffed by each town's general practitioners.

But Wagga Base director of prevocational education and training Chris Mumme is optimistic, saying about half of the previous JMO group have stayed in the city for a third or fourth year.

"And most of the specialists who are returning to Wagga have done some sort of training in Wagga. And I think exposing people to the area is the main way you're going to encourage them to come back," he said.