International medical graduates should have their applications to work in areas of need in Australia fast-tracked, according to the nation’s peak body representing general practitioners.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners made several recommendations in a submission it handed to the Senate Joint Standing Committee on Migration.
The group’s President Dr Nicole Higgins said in the paper that worker shortages across the health sector are leading to poorer health outcomes and lower life expectancy, particularly in rural and remote areas.
“Australia’s health system is in crisis and one of the key issues is that we have a shortage of workers right across the board, including GPs, pharmacists and nurses,” she said.
The submission to the committee also called for the reinstatement of a subsidy cancelled last year that helped pay for training for overseas graduates to practice as specialist GPs in Australia.
“At a time when our health system is in crisis and people across the nation are struggling to get into a GP, why would we add yet another barrier to the path for overseas doctors to work in Australia? It makes no sense,” Dr Higgins said.
Since 2020, overseas graduates have represented around 45 per cent of all GPs in Australia and over 50 per cent of GPs have attained their medical degree overseas.
College rural chair, Associate Professor Michael Clements, said overseas-born graduates from Europe, Asia and the UK have always been interested in working and living in Australia, and the government should be doing what it can to make it easier for them.
“While governments need to do a lot more to encourage people born here to want to become a GP by adequately funding and valuing general practice care, international graduates can help address areas of need in the short-term,” he said.
Another suggestion outlined in the submission was that Rural Workforce Agencies head up the coordination of streamlining applications, to allow staff to go to areas of most need.
Chair of the Rural Workforce Agency Network Peter Barns said it’s a good idea, with international medical graduates making up 53 per cent of the current rural medical workforce.
“They, and their families, enrich the communities they work in, and the Rural Workforce Agencies support efforts to simplify and streamline their journeys to practice in Australia,” he said.
– AAP
