Migration Help
18th January 2010, 06:03 PM
DANNY ROSE
January 18, 2010
Overseas-trained doctors have for years been forced to live in the Australian bush to address regional workforce shortages, but now the Australian Medical Association (AMA) believes this is wrong.
AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce has called for an end to the rule, saying the "discriminatory" requirement means these doctors start work in Australia without many of the resources available to their metropolitan-based peers.
The system was an inadequate way of addressing hard-to-fill vacancies in the bush, he said.
International medical graduates (IMGs) who relocate to Australia cannot obtain a Medicare provider number unless they agree to move to a designated area of doctor shortage for a minimum of 10 years.
"The (Rudd) government recently introduced welcome changes to assist New Zealand IMGs and the AMA would like to see this as the first step in dismantling the 10-year moratorium," Dr Pesce said in a statement on Monday.
"The moratorium is discriminatory and often forces IMGs to live and work in areas where they do not have access to adequate professional support and supervision.
"IMGs are required to spend long periods in some of the most professionally challenging clinical environments, despite limited preparation for this experience," he said.
"This is not in the best interests of the doctors or their patients."
Dr Pesce said the moratorium, introduced in 1997, was being used to "prop up" doctor numbers in regional areas where overseas-trained doctors now accounted for almost half of the workforce.
This had allowed governments to "defer or ignore proper policies to attract and retain doctors in country areas", he said.
"IMGs now make up 41 per cent of the medical workforce in rural and remote areas," Dr Pesce said.
"They make an enormous contribution to the medical workforce and to rural communities but this contribution is not being properly recognised or rewarded."
The AMA has written to federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon to call for the change.
Improved incentives and support mechanisms were needed to encourage more locally trained doctors to take up positions in regional areas, Dr Pesce said, while appropriately skilled IMGs should be able to "voluntarily consider a career" in the bush.
"We want the right people in the right places," Dr Pesce said.
SOURCE (http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/end-rule-to-send-foreign-docs-to-bush-20100118-mfgv.html)
MH
January 18, 2010
Overseas-trained doctors have for years been forced to live in the Australian bush to address regional workforce shortages, but now the Australian Medical Association (AMA) believes this is wrong.
AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce has called for an end to the rule, saying the "discriminatory" requirement means these doctors start work in Australia without many of the resources available to their metropolitan-based peers.
The system was an inadequate way of addressing hard-to-fill vacancies in the bush, he said.
International medical graduates (IMGs) who relocate to Australia cannot obtain a Medicare provider number unless they agree to move to a designated area of doctor shortage for a minimum of 10 years.
"The (Rudd) government recently introduced welcome changes to assist New Zealand IMGs and the AMA would like to see this as the first step in dismantling the 10-year moratorium," Dr Pesce said in a statement on Monday.
"The moratorium is discriminatory and often forces IMGs to live and work in areas where they do not have access to adequate professional support and supervision.
"IMGs are required to spend long periods in some of the most professionally challenging clinical environments, despite limited preparation for this experience," he said.
"This is not in the best interests of the doctors or their patients."
Dr Pesce said the moratorium, introduced in 1997, was being used to "prop up" doctor numbers in regional areas where overseas-trained doctors now accounted for almost half of the workforce.
This had allowed governments to "defer or ignore proper policies to attract and retain doctors in country areas", he said.
"IMGs now make up 41 per cent of the medical workforce in rural and remote areas," Dr Pesce said.
"They make an enormous contribution to the medical workforce and to rural communities but this contribution is not being properly recognised or rewarded."
The AMA has written to federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon to call for the change.
Improved incentives and support mechanisms were needed to encourage more locally trained doctors to take up positions in regional areas, Dr Pesce said, while appropriately skilled IMGs should be able to "voluntarily consider a career" in the bush.
"We want the right people in the right places," Dr Pesce said.
SOURCE (http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/end-rule-to-send-foreign-docs-to-bush-20100118-mfgv.html)
MH