Australian Medical Association

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, has written to Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, urging the Government to fund extra specialised support and supervision for international medical graduate (IMG) doctors, especially those working in rural and regional Australia.

The AMA recommends that new funding should be allocated to General Practice Education and Training (GPET), an organisation with the capacity and infrastructure to provide this additional support for IMG doctors working in general practice.

The AMA welcomes the release of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing’s ‘Lost in the Labyrinth’ report into registration processes and support for international medical graduates (IMGs), also known as overseas trained doctors.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the AMA values the immense contribution that IMGs make to the Australian health system.

The reputation and skills of all international medical graduates (IMGs) working in Australia were last night unfairly questioned in a report on A Current Affair, which concerned one hospital and the activities of a couple of so-called ‘foreign doctors’.

AMA Vice President, Professor Geoffrey Dobb, said today that the story was sensationalism at its worst and an unfair and unwarranted attack on the thousands of highly skilled IMGs currently working in our health system.

Prof Dobb said that the AMA shared the concerns of the patients featured in the story and agreed that poor and unprofessional practice should be thoroughly investigated, but the overriding inference of the ACA report was that all IMGs are bad.

In its submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing Inquiry into registration processes and support for Overseas Trained Doctors, the AMA calls for removal of the 10 year International Medical Graduates (IMG) moratorium and greater support for IMGs trying to achieve specialist registration through access to other GP training, courses.

The AMA has written to Health Minister Nicola Roxon urging greater support for international medical graduates (IMGs) working in Australia, highlighting the problems they face in accessing basic community services such as Medicare and public education.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said the AMA has always been a strong supporter of the role played by IMGs in providing health services in the Australian community and wants them to continue as respected and valued members of the Australian medical workforce.

“Along with better access to health and education services for IMGs, we would like the Government to abandon the current 10-year moratorium, which effectively forces many IMGs to work exclusively in rural and remote areas for 10 years or more,” Dr Pesce said.

Some glaring anomalies fixed, but more to do – AMA

The Health Insurance Amendment (New Zealand Overseas Trained Doctors) Bill 2009 was introduced to Parliament this morning.  The Bill will amend the Health Insurance Act 1973.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the new Bill would fix some of the glaring anomalies in a scheme that is being increasingly questioned by the medical profession and the community.

Dr Pesce said the AMA had written to Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, last month in support of proposed changes to the Health Insurance Act, especially around the so-called ’10-year moratorium’, whereby International Medical Graduates (IMGs) must work in a district of workforce shortage for a minimum period of 10 years.

The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) has developed changes to the federal legislation which restricts access to Medicare provider numbers and effectively limits where international medical graduates and “former overseas medical students” can work for a minimum period of 10 years – the “10-year moratorium”. AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, has written to Minister for Health and Ageing to request that the proposed amendments be introduced into Federal Parliament.

AMA Position Statement: Overseas Trained Doctors - 2004

This paper reviews the experiences of a number of western industrialised countries in the regulation of the hours of work for doctors in training as well as documenting the provisions that apply. While the Australian health system can benefit from this information, the applicability to Australia of the approaches taken and the provisions introduced in relation to doctors hours of work must be assessed having regard to the very different health systems in which they operate.