WITHDRAWN POST

There was previously here a letter regarding La Trobe University from James McConvill. The post has been deleted at the request of the author. Dr. McConvill was until August 2006 a senior lecturer in law at La Trobe University Law School. There is another article by him on my "Of Interest" site




Foreign doctors bypass skills tests as shortages grow

Thousands of overseas-trained doctors are working in Australia without undergoing standard competency checks despite pledges of a shake-up in the wake of the Jayant Patel case in Queensland, new research has found. The number of unchecked doctors from non-Western countries is likely to rise because shortages are increasing dependence on foreign recruits, but there is no immediate prospect of a nationally agreed check on their skills, the research concludes. More than 3000 overseas doctors are granted work visas each year, but many are not required to have their knowledge and clinical skills formally assessed because of pressure to fill vacancies in many hospitals and country towns, the researchers Bob Birrell and Andrew Schwartz say.

Promises by health authorities of a tougher regime for overseas recruits have had "little effect on levels of recruitment of overseas-trained doctors, or on the way in which they were assessed", say Professor Birrell, a leading medical workforce analyst, and Mr Schwartz, president of the Australian Doctors Trained Overseas Association. Their research appears in Monash University's People and Place journal, published today.

In a separate development, the Australian Medical Association has asked the Federal Government to tighten assessment requirements for overseas doctors if states and territories are not able to agree on a national scheme.

The research finds that not only do many imported doctors bypass Australian assessment authorities because of provisional postings and acceptance by state medical boards of their employers' assurances, but also that many who do sit exams fail. The proportion of overseas general practitioner candidates initially deemed eligible to practice who passed their Australian exams had dropped from 61 per cent in 1999 to 40 per cent in 2004, figures supplied by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to the researchers said.

Professor Birrell and Mr Schwartz say the scale of the dependence on overseas doctors is shown by the number of occupational trainee doctors granted work visas. In 2004-05, there were 1400 registered in NSW alone, about a third from Britain and another third from Asian countries. The researchers say a national assessment scheme for overseas doctors has been proposed since the early 1990s but has foundered on the states' insistence on being able to bypass requirements to fill vacancies "in the public interest". In the wake of the Patel scandal, the state and federal governments had agreed to establish a national scheme by December, but there was "no immediate prospect" of a scheme coming into effect.

A spokeswoman for the federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, said a "fully developed proposal" on national accreditation was expected by December and this would be "ready for further discussion and endorsement between the states and Commonwealth".

The researchers say there has been no outcry from Australia's medical profession, even though many medical authorities "care deeply about the situation". "Their silence partly reflects worries about doctor shortages and partly a reluctance to comment for fear that they will be regarded as feathering their own nest." But the scale of the shortage and the limited supply of British doctors "means that there will be increasing dependence on overseas-trained doctors drawn from non-Western medical settings", the researchers say.

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Army chief listens to his troops

There is a long tradition of Australian army generals caring about their troops -- going back at least to General Monash in WWI and also recently seen in the immensely popular General Cosgrove

The head of the Australian Army has personally intervened to stop bureaucrats blocking soldiers' access to an unofficial website where they can vent their anger and concerns about military life. Army chief General Peter Leahy is fighting Defence Department officials for the right of military whistleblowers to complain about poor conditions and shoddy equipment.

Defence technical officers suddenly blocked all Defence Department computers from the website, called Fire Support Base. General Leahy, who was reading the website at the time, immediately stepped in and ordered the ban be lifted. He stunned website members by posting a message under his own name explaining he had not ordered the ban, that it had been a decision of "the geek system" and he had ordered that access be restored.

The website has served for more than a year as an underground forum for military personnel to discuss grievances about equipment and controversial issues. There are about 600 members of http://www.firesupportbase.com. They have to give their real names to join, but post online using nicknames. Members were shocked to find that the head of the army was also a member and had been quietly reading their gripes. General Leahy posted under his real name without mentioning his rank. "I have been working my way through the sites over the last few weeks and have found them very informative and in most instances constructive and useful," he wrote after members complained they had been locked out. "I have certainly not ordered the geeks to block access. My ego is not bruised, I have actually learned a lot. I will try and find out tomorrow what is going on and if the site has been banned I will ask to have access restored immediately. Peter Leahy."

The response was immediate. "Is this for real ?" asked Ballistician. "I find it hard to believe he would look at what we yobbos have to say!" General Leahy wrote back: "Yes it is me. With regard to the site being barred, I have asked some questions this morning. From what I can see the geek system has barred the site themselves. I have asked why and at the same time requested that the site be restored. Peter Leahy." The website manager, a former soldier who did not want to be named, told The Sun-Herald General Leahy joined the site two months ago, but this was the first time he had posted a message.

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Howard demands that black neighbouring countries lift their game

Prime Minister John Howard has restated his belief that neighbouring countries which receive large amounts of Australian aid must respond by improving the standard of governance in their countries. After diplomatic confrontations with both the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in recent weeks, Mr Howard said he expected an "interesting" meeting with the countries' leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji this week. Australia has banned ministerial visits from PNG following the flight of wanted Solomons Attorney-General Julian Moti from the country back to the Solomons.

But Mr Howard denied his Government had taken a tougher stand than in the past. "It's not a question of being tougher this time," he told ABC radio. "What is happening is the Australian Government is insisting that in response to the large amounts of aid we are providing, there is a lift in standards of governance and economic performance, and we'll continue to do that. "The events surrounding Mr Moti are of course quite unusual and his circumstances of his leaving Papua New Guinea and going to the Solomon Islands were unusual. "I'll leave it at that. But the real issue there is allowing the law to take its course."

Mr Howard said the Australian Government was not prosecuting Mr Moti - the Government was merely allowing the laws of Australia to operate. "I don't intend to stand in the way of the Australian Federal Police in enforcing the laws of Australia," he said. "This man is wanted to answer criminal charges. It's not right for the Australian Government to negotiate somebody's liability under the criminal law and we won't be doing that."

Mr Howard said the continuation of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) was in the interests of the Solomons people. "It may not be in the interests from time to time of some politicians in the Solomon Islands, but it is clearly in the interests of the people of the Solomon Islands and that's why we support it," he said. "RAMSI has been a wonderful lifeline to the people of the Solomon Islands and they would be the poorer if RAMSI disappears."

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