Australian Medical Association disappointed by major party funding inaction amid hospital crisis

The AMA’s Dr Omar Khorshid says he will encourage Labor to be more ‘courageous’ on the issue of health rather than taking a small target approach. Photograph: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

The head of Australia’s peak medical body will meet with the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, to urge him to reconsider his “small target” strategy on health. Dr Omar Khorshid will warn that substantial funding is urgently needed to address the crisis in the country’s hospitals.

The message from the Australian Medical Association president comes after Albanese called him on Thursday morning in response to the association criticising Labor’s $135m urgent care clinic policy, announced this week, as “incoherent”.