By Bronwyn Herbert for The World Today
Posted Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:42pm AEST Updated Tue Sep 15, 2009 4:06pm AEST
The Rural Doctors Association says there is a shortfall of 1,800 doctors across regional Australia. (AFP: Norwood Abbey, file photo)
Audio: Bureaucracy blamed for delay in recruiting rural doctors (The World Today) Medical recruiters say a 12-month delay in introducing a new accreditation program for overseas doctors has left hundreds of rural communities without a GP.
The new, streamlined recruitment program for general practitioners was supposed to be introduced in July last year but it still has not been approved by medical regulators.
The Rural Doctors Association says right now there is a shortfall of 1,800 doctors across regional Australia.
But medical recruiters say even when qualified doctors from overseas want to work here, they are being held up by a bureaucratic delay.
The chief executive of Health Workforce Queensland, Chris Mitchell, says the situation is discouraging doctors from coming to Australia.
"The frustration levels are significant to the point where we have heard a number of practitioners have said, 'I'm just not coming. I'm a senior general practitioner and you're asking me to go through too many hoops'," Mr Mitchell said.
"One ponders why those bureaucratic barriers are being in place at a time when we are crying out for more doctors in the bush."
Mr Mitchell says state and federal health ministers agreed on a new specialist pathway program specifically for GPs that was supposed to streamline the entry of overseas doctors.
This was due to be introduced in July last year.
"The new arrangements were announced under the COAG agreement and then the Royal College of General Practitioners has had time to prepare a pathway, develop the program and then the Australian Medical Council has to, as I understand, accredit the program," he said.
"And I do understand a pathway has been put up [but] it has not yet been approved. But if there is a blockage it needs to be sorted out it, and this has gone on for far too long now."
Mr Mitchell says the numbers vary between states but the process has stopped at least a dozen doctors from working in rural Queensland.
"We would have been able to attract another 12 to 15 general practitioners during this time - that's 12 communities that either don't have a doctor or the current doctors are overworked because they are still waiting for their vacancy to be filled," he said.
"And we need every assistance we can to support these rural communities."
'Jobs protection'
The president of the Australian Doctors Trained Overseas Association, Andrew Schwartz, believes the delay is due to Australian medical unions wanting to protect their jobs.
"They are susceptible to the pressures put on by the medical profession," he said.
"It is the strongest union in Australia and they are extremely active and efficient at protecting their turf and they are particularly interested in preventing large numbers of doctors coming into Australia and entering the private market."
A spokeswoman from the Australian Medical Council says it has been waiting on paperwork from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP).
The vice-president of the RACGP, Dr Morton Rawlin, says the proposal has been ready for nine months, but the delay has been getting approval from each state medical board.
"We have had difficulties getting formal agreement through the various jurisdictions, the various state boards that are required to in fact sign off and register these doctors," he said.
Dr Rawlin says he understands the final documentation has now been signed off by the Australian Medical Council and expects the new accreditation system to be operating by the beginning of October.
Reference :http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/15/2686701.htmwww.medicareer.com.au
