Australian Medical Association

AMA Federal Councillor and AMA NT President, Dr Paul Bauert, said today that the Australian Government could learn a lot from the experiences of non-government organisations (NGOs) internationally about how best to make real improvements in Indigenous health.

Dr Bauert is this week attending the United Nations Advance Global Health Conference in Melbourne.

 The AMA will next month host a summit of key medical training stakeholders to discuss and develop solutions to the crisis around the shortage of prevocational and vocational training positions for medical school graduates.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that Australia faces the loss of hundreds of locally produced, highly trained medical graduates to other countries or other professions.

Transcript: AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, with Leon Delaney, 2SM Radio, Thursday 26 August 2010

Subject: Medical internships shortage

The AMA shares the concerns of Australia’s biggest medical schools that the national shortage of medical internships has severe implications for the future medical workforce and its ability to meet the health care needs of a growing and ageing population, with more people suffering chronic and complex conditions.

Dr Pesce said the internship shortage has reached crisis point and all Australian governments, including the next Commonwealth Government, must work together to find solutions.

The AMA welcomes today’s commitment from Labor that, if elected, it would invest heavily in telemedicine to support and enhance health services as a part of a modern health system.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said the investment would assist doctors to better use communications technology to provide services to patients who would otherwise have limited or no access to these services.

“This is a recognition of the need to embrace communications technology to modernise our health system,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA supports the principle that parents should be given greater incentive to take personal responsibility for making sure that their children have a healthy start to life, but the Healthy Kids Check, in its current form, is not the right way to achieve this outcome.

Dr Pesce said the Healthy Kids Check needs to be redesigned in consultation with the medical profession to ensure that it targets the right risk factors in children at the right age and that there is an evidence base for this approach.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that it is unacceptable that the major parties are yet to make significant policy announcements to address the health needs of Indigenous Australians.

Dr Pesce said Indigenous health must be a priority in this election, not an afterthought.

The AMA is today calling on the major parties to commit to proper indexation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and to promise to increase Medicare patient rebates, not cut them.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said that Medicare rebates are set by the Government and are paid to patients to assist them with the cost of professional medical care and treatment, but the current rebates do not reflect the realistic cost of providing medical services.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA condemns the killing of eight foreign doctors in Afghanistan.

Dr Pesce said it is a tragedy that these doctors could lose their lives while seeking to provide medical care to poor and oppressed people in a country at war.

“Many doctors, including Australians, travel to the world’s trouble spots to provide vital medical services to the innocent victims of conflict,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the Coalition’s commitment to invest $85 million in health infrastructure in local communities is a small but good start in meeting growing demand for important services and equipment, especially for public hospitals.

Dr Pesce said that capital investment in health infrastructure, particularly in neglected areas of rural, regional and remote Australia, is sorely needed.