During a visit to the Aboriginal and Islander Community Health Service in Woolloongabba in Brisbane, Dr Glasson said buckets of money have been thrown at just about everybody in the community except sick Indigenous Australians.

"It is a great tragedy in 21^st Century Australia that nobody has the courage to try to win a vote by bringing the health of Indigenous Australians into line with the rest of the community," Dr Glasson said.

"With less than a week till election day, the best offer on the table is Labor's $50.8 million over four years, but that is clearly just crumbs from the bountiful table of this election campaign.

"It's not too late.  There are still a few days to go.  I challenge John Howard and Mark Latham to make the most compassionate bid of the election auction and do the right thing by Indigenous Australians.

"Do it because it is the right thing to do," Dr Glasson said.

In its recent report - Healing Hands: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Workforce Requirements - the AMA estimated that $1.6 billion of new funding is needed over four years to make any real difference to the health of Indigenous Australians, whose health is currently among the worst in the world.

Dr Glasson said $400 million extra a year would fund Aboriginal health services, often controlled by local communities, which provide mother and baby clinics, advice on parenting, vaccination programs, preventive check ups for adults and access to GPs.

"It would also fund services that provide valuable information and support on lifestyle issues such as diet, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, and domestic violence.

"These are services that other Australians take for granted.

"This election has seen considerable funding promised to people based on the need to win a vote.  Today I call on some proper funding and programs to save lives and improve lives," Dr Glasson said.

The AMA's position on Indigenous Health is set out in the AMA Key Health Issues for the 2004 Federal Election (see attached).

4 October 2004

CONTACT:         Judith Tokley             (02) 6270 5471 / (0408) 824 306

Public Health

 

4.3       Indigenous Health - Financing

 

Background

Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders suffer from poor health, which in some aspects is worse than the health of people in some Third World Countries.

They die younger and their kids are sicker, and too many of their babies die at birth or are born with low bodyweight and chronic health conditions.

Doctors working in some communities say that the state of Indigenous health is worse than it has been for 20 years.  It is Australia's national shame.

Key Issues For Patients

 

At present the whole Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, whether rural and remote or urban, has limited access to fully staffed comprehensive primary health care.

 

Any increase in financing of these services will have an immediate impact on access and, over time, will turn around some of the appalling health statistics.

 

Key Issues for Governments

Genuine political will is needed to increase the present funding levels.

None of the major political parties has made Indigenous health an election issue.  This is unlikely, as their pollsters will tell them there are no votes in improving Indigenous health.

AMA Position

The AMA calls upon the political parties to make election commitments to:

• increase funding to integrated primary care services provided principally to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders by $500 million a year recurrently;
• provide a clear four year plan to achieve this full increase by the end of the period;
• to fully fund the Workforce National Strategic Framework including the required training places.

Public Health

 

4.4       Indigenous Health - Whole of Life Approach

 

 

Background

 

For Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander peoples, life expectancy at birth is between 16 and 19 years less than for non-Indigenous Australians.  Standardised mortality rates are more than three times the expected rate and death rates between 25-54 years of age are 5-8 times that seen in non-Indigenous Australians. The percentage of the Indigenous population expected to live to 65 is less than in many developing countries.

Key Issues for Patients

Australia's indigenous people are admitted to hospital at twice the rate of non-indigenous people. They have much higher rates of renal disease, diabetes, injury and poisoning. Infant mortality rates are three times that of the Australian total. Life expectancy remains 20 years less than that for non-indigenous Australians and the gap has not closed over the past decade.

Key Issues for Governments

There are many acknowledged determinants of health - income and social status; social support networks; education and literacy; employment/working conditions; social environments; physical environments/housing/nutrition; personal health practices and coping skills; healthy child development; biology and genetic endowment; health services; gender and culture.

It is impossible to expect changes in the health service provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders alone to transform the present health reality.  An integrated approach across all Government Departments is required.

 

Any solution to Indigenous heath problems will involve empowering communities and individuals to take control across the whole range of economic and social areas.

AMA Position

The AMA calls upon the Government and Opposition to enunciate a fully funded plan to improve the health of Indigenous Australians to at least the levels achieved in the equivalent populations in NZ, Canada and the USA - and in the long term to the same as the rest of the Australian population.

This will involve a whole of Government approach involving the integration of health, education and social policy and resources.

Public Health

 

4.5       Indigenous Health - Indigenous Medical Workforce

 

 

Background

The government produced an unfunded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce National Strategic Framework in May 2002.  The Framework is vague about numbers of each type of health worker and the finances required to implement the plan.

The AMA's concrete contribution in this area is the Indigenous Scholarship. There are two recipients of the scholarship in training at the moment. The AMA is also working with the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians on a mentoring program for Indigenous students interested in or already in health professional training.  There are other initiatives, including a support program run by the AMA (WA) in conjunction with the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business.

The soon-to-be-released AMA 2004 Indigenous Health Report Card - "Healing Hands" - is focused on Indigenous Health Workforce issues and provides figures for the numbers of doctors, nurses, Aboriginal Health Workers and Allied Health professionals required. It also estimates the cost to both train and then employ this additional workforce in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector.

Key Issues For Patients

At present the whole Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, whether rural and remote or urban, has limited access to fully staffed comprehensive primary health care.

There are very few Indigenous health workers in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

 

Key Issues for Governments

 

As with all Indigenous health issues there is no obvious political gain for any of the parties on this. None has a position on this issue. With the whole medical workforce an issue it is doubly difficult to find doctors and other health professionals willing to work in the difficult conditions often encountered by those providing services to the Indigenous population.

It is important to remember the focus is not just rural and remote. There is equally a need for this workforce in the cities and large rural towns.

AMA Position

The AMA calls on the Government to put workforce figures to their Workforce National Strategic Framework and fully fund the implementation of the strategy. This should include fully funding all the required training places, not requiring these to be funded through mainstream training funding streams

We also call for an exploration of incentives for medical officers working in Aboriginal Medical Services and greater support to registrars to undertake training in Aboriginal Medical Services.