The country's two medical schools have introduced immersion schemes and other initiatives with Government support to encourage more medical students to work in rural areas after graduating.
Country practices are also able to call on locums to help out on a temporary basis.
But the chair of the Rural GPs Network, Kirsty Murrell-McMillan, says the number of permanent vacancies in rural practices is continuing to grow, with 59 practices looking for a GP.
She says that's caused partly by increasingly aggressive efforts by Australia to lure New Zealand doctors there, and also because more rural doctors are reaching retirement age.
She says New Zealand can't compete with Australia on money and conditions, but could do more to get trainee doctors into rural areas such as raising pay.
Ms Murrell-McMillan also supports compulsory rural training for general practice registrars.
Rural GP, Rex Yule, from Amberley, made the call at a GP convention in Wellington at the weekend.
Dr Yule says the Amberley medical centre in North Canterbury has been a teaching practice for more than 20 years, but has struggled to get medical trainees to come there in recent times.
He said it's easier for trainees to work in urban areas and not come to rural areas. A lot of registrars are "very fearful" of rural medicine, which involves matters such as being on call for weekend work, road accidents and palliative care.
Medical students are now more exposed to rural practice experience through immersion schemes and other programmes through the Otago and Auckland medical schools.
But Dr Yule says that needs to continue once students have graduated because rural practice is just as important as urban practice.
