AMA President tells Sydney University to “read the room” on gambling funds

AMA President Professor Steve Robson appeared in national television and newspapers this week, pressing the AMA’s views on current issues in healthcare.

Professor Robson spoke with the Guardian about the University of Sydney’s decision to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars from the gambling industry. He said the university should “read the room” and reconsider its decision to accept this funding.

“As both the federal president of the Australian Medical Association and a University of Sydney alumnus, I am calling on the university leadership to reflect on the credibility that industry-funded research will have with the community and read the room,” Professor Robson said.

“I’d be very concerned about industry funding of gambling research. This is exactly the issue we see with tobacco companies funding vaping research, big alcohol funding research, and fossil fuel ‘thinktanks.’”

Professor Robson spoke to Channel 10 News on the issue of payroll tax and the potential for general practices to lose out.

“Federal government's put a lot of money towards general practice. Having state and territory governments plot to skim it back off again is defeating the entire purpose,” he said.

In an article in Nine Newspapers on a potential expansion of prescribing powers Professor Robson warned against a lower quality of connected patient care if the powers were to be expanded too far.

“The real danger is that this becomes an opportunity for a range of health professions to try to carve out more independent roles, which will inevitably result in more fragmented care, waste and higher long-term health system costs,” he said.

Professor Robson said employing nurses and allied health professionals to work alongside doctors in general practices was an example of positive reform, “not just rearranging deck chairs at the cost of quality patient care”.