Report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce is unacceptable - AMA
Chair of the AMA's Taskforce on Indigenous Health, Dr Paul Bauert, said today that a report prepared for the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Committee (AHMAC) on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce fails the needs of the thousands of Indigenous Australians who are crying out for basic health care.
Dr Bauert said the report - produced by the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing - was endorsed by AHMAC in late May but had only found its way into the public arena for comment this week.
"This report tells us nothing new," Dr Bauert said.
"We are all aware of the desperate and growing problems with the health of Indigenous Australians, but this report is simply a rehash of everything we already know.
"We need action, not words.
"We need doctors, not committees.
"We need training programs, not more bureaucracy.
"This report sadly does not deliver one extra doctor when and where they are needed most, nor does it provide one extra training position.
"While the report sets out a 5-10 year reform agenda, more Indigenous Australians are getting sicker and more are dying needlessly.
"For example, the mortality rate from carcinoma of the cervix in women in Indigenous communities is 20 times greater than the rest of the population.
"People should not be dying from this disease, but they are. The best way to prevent the disease is regular treatment but these people do not have enough doctors - and this report gives them no hope of getting them in their lifetime.
"The poor health of Indigenous Australians is a national tragedy that needs urgent national leadership and a committed compassionate national solution - the report offers neither.
"The AMA yet again calls for a Commonwealth-funded training program for a targeted health workforce to cater to the specific health needs of Indigenous Australians," Dr Bauert said.
CONTACT: Dr Paul Bauert 0418 277 004 or 08 8975 9928 (after 4.00pm)