AMA reveals training and skills shortages face the health care sector

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Created on Wednesday, 04 December 2013 15:05

Written by Editorial staff

On December 3, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) released its annual "Position Statement on Medical Workforce and Training".

This highlights the current problems facing Australia's health care sector and contains a well-informed strategy for dealing with them in the future. A wide range of professionals from the health care sector contributed to 2013's report.

Professor Geoffrey Dobb, vice president of the AMA, said the key to making sure Australians continue to get the best health care possible is "a highly skilled, well-trained medical workforce".

"The AMA believes there needs to be unprecedented cooperation and coordination - between all levels of government, and between all key medical training stakeholders - to build a highly trained medical workforce in appropriate numbers to serve the future health needs of the Australian community," announced Professor Dobb.

He explained that people operating in the health care sector need to be trained in a way that's highly efficient and provided with sufficient funding to cover their expenses.

Professor Dobb added that any training program that Australia initiates needs to be based on the idea that all Australians deserve equal access to medical services and should take into consideration "global medical workforce trends".

"It takes time to train a high-quality medical workforce - planning for the future must start now," said Professor Dobb.

In addition to discussing a training program, the Position Statement on Medical Workforce and Training also looks at the skills shortage facing the health care sector.

It reveals there's a global shortage of medical practitioners, as well as a "maldistribution" of them, both in terms of where they're located around the world and in what they're specialising.

One of the strategies the report outlines is recruiting International Medical Graduates (IMGs) to meet demand, especially in regional and rural areas of Australia.

Are you an IMG? Are you interested in living and working in Australia? Then you might want to speak with a migration agent about your immigration visa options!

While the subclass 422 (medical practitioner -  temporary) visa is now defunct, IMGs can now apply for immigration visas under the subclass 457 (business - long stay) stream.

You will need to be sponsored by an employer in Australia before you can lodge an application for this type of visa, as well as fulfill a number of other requirements.

Migration Alliance is also lobbying for a Live-In Caregiver Programme to be introduced, as this might ease the pressure on our health care sector by helping skilled caregivers move to Australia.

For more information, get in touch with migration agents in Australia today - and don't forget to take our survey about the Live-In Caregiver Programme!