AMA welcomes health ministers' acknowledgement of privacy concerns over national registration
AMA President, Dr Bill Glasson, said today that the AMA welcomes the decision by Health Ministers to consult more closely with the medical profession over privacy issues related to the national registration system for doctors.
The Australian Health Ministers' Conference (AHMC) today agreed to progress a nationally consistent approach to medical registration, a move strongly supported by the AMA.
Dr Glasson said the medical workforce and doctor mobility benefits of national registration would be lost if the privacy concerns raised by the AMA were not addressed. AHMC will reconsider the extent of doctor information that will be publicly available when they next meet in July 2004.
"If the original proposal to allow private information about a doctor freely available via the Internet went ahead, the impact on the medical workforce would be devastating," Dr Glasson said.
"No other group in the community is required to be so exposed.
"We must find the right balance between doctors' privacy and the consumers needs.
"It would be a waste to lose all the good aspects of national registration because of sticking points over the privacy issue.
"A national registration scheme for doctors simply will not work without the total support of the doctors.
"The AMA looks forward to working with the Health Ministers and the Department in establishing a system that will greatly assist patients and communities," Dr Glasson said.
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