October 5, 2007
Doctor Shortage in Australia Leads to
Fast-tracking Overseas Applicants
By Neena Bhandari
Sydney
The shortage of doctors in Australia is so critical that the
authorities are resisting compulsory checks on medicos trained
overseas lest they fail the test, a study has revealed.
The study by Monash University in Melbourne has shown that the
authorities are reluctant to ask for a compulsory assessment of
doctors' credentials for fear of deterring them from coming to
Australia. Bob Birrell, a co-author of the study, said overseas
doctors were the mainstay of basic health services in public
hospitals and 37 percent of all rural general practitioners now were
overseas-trained.
Birrell told ABC Radio, "It is extraordinary in the sense that these
doctors are in the frontline of medicine but have not been subjected
to any systematic test of their medical knowledge or clinical
skills. There is a reluctance to require any systematic test for
fear that this will put off applicants and indeed that some would
fail."
Soji Swaraj, an endocrinologist and physician at Concord Hospital in
Sydney, told IANS: "Currently the way overseas trained doctors are
thrown into the system can be grossly unfair on both the doctor and
the patients. Medical boards are under pressure to fast-track
applicants due to doctor shortages."
Scrutiny of overseas doctors has been a matter of debate.
While Indian doctor Mohammed Asif Ali was sacked from Gold Coast
Hospital in Queensland recently for exaggerating his medical
employment history, Jayant Patel, dubbed "Dr Death", has been linked
to the death of 17 patients at Bundaberg Base Hospital, also in
Queensland.
The immigration department approves doctors' visas, including
character and security checks, and the state medical boards and
health departments ensure their work histories are bona fide.
"Once a doctor has been registered, the respective medical bodies
have the responsibility to train them to the required Australian
Standards. So don't blame the doctors, blame the system," Hemchandra
Rao, former president of the Overseas and Australian Medical
Graduates Association (OAMGA), told IANS.
Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has rejected suggestions that a
large number of foreign doctors are incompetent. He told ABC Radio,
"I don't think it is in any way true to say there are large numbers
of incompetent doctors sneaking into Australia."
Critics say that the country would not be so dependent on foreign
doctors if the government had trained more Australian medical
practitioners.
There was some good news Thursday when Federal Education Minister
Julie Bishop announced: "Between 2001 and 2006, there was a 46.7
percent increase for nursing students, 17.4 percent for teaching
students and 63.5 percent for medical students."
Recently, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, who drew flak for
cancelling Indian doctor Muhammad Haneef's work visa, told state
medical boards that their overseas doctors' checks are "less than
thorough employment vetting processes" and that was putting the
integrity of Australia's migration programme at risk.
Haneef, who is from Bangalore, was detained and incarcerated for 26
days in July on the charge of being linked with a failed terror plot
in Britain in June.
About 3,000 foreign medical graduates a year are allowed into
Australia, many of them under the '457 visa' scheme.
Andrew Schwartz from the Australian Doctors Trained Overseas
Association said, "There has been a significant decrease in the
number of Indian doctors coming to Australia in the past few months.
Application enquiries to work in Australia have dropped 70 to 80
percent."
Haneef's case is seen as one of the main reasons for this decline.
So how long will it be before Indian doctors feel comfortable to
come here and work again? Schwartz says: "Time will heal this one."
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