Fifty-three of the 90 students who graduated from Fukushima Medical University in March are working as interns at hospitals in the prefecture, the most in the past 10 years.
The prefecture credits an increase in the medical department's quota for admissions, as well as the eagerness of new graduates who experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster to contribute to the region.
The trend has raised hopes in the prefecture, where doctor shortages are a major problem, that the quality of local medical care will improve.