Media - Releases

The AMA has long argued that doctors should be regarded as an integral part of the aged care workforce, in the same way that they are an integral part of the hospital workforce. Now, a Senate Committee agrees.

Patients need access to after-hours primary care services when they have genuinely urgent clinical needs, but the system needs reform to ensure that there is a clearer definition of what is considered "urgent", AMA President Dr Michael Gannon says.

For 30 years, Professor Bernard Pearn-Rowe has juggled his solo GP practice in Perth with his active roles in medical politics. The stalwart of general practice advocacy has been recognised with the AMA President's Award.

His colleagues describe him as a visionary who has instituted significant evolution and advancement in the training of rural general practitioners and specialist generalists, producing tangible work force and health care improvements in all parts of Queensland.

A quiet achiever with a strong social conscience, Dr Genevieve Goulding, has been named the AMA Woman in Medicine for 2017.

The NSW Government has won the inaugural AMA Best Public Health Initiative from a State or Territory Government Award for its campaign to combat childhood obesity.

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on 31 May, AMA President, Dr Michael Gannon, announced the results today at the AMA National Conference 2017 in Melbourne.  Judges from the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH) allocate points to each State and Territory in various categories, including legislation, to track how effective government has been at combating smoking in the previous 12 months.

Discrimination affects people's physical and mental health, and not allowing same-sex couples to marry is discrimination. The AMA is calling on the Australian Parliament to legislate for marriage equality, and end the divisive debate.