Overseas doctors allege racism
Tuesday Mar 21 08:17 AEDT
Overseas-trained doctors are being warned off practising in NSW because of allegations they are subjected to racism and resented by local doctors.
The Australian Doctors Trained Overseas Association (ADTOA) issued the warning to international doctors, saying doctors from non-English speaking backgrounds were most affected.
According to the federal government, more than 2,400 overseas-trained doctors arrived in Australia in the past 18 months to help ease a shortage of medical practitioners.
Work was underway to increase that number further by streamlining the visa and accreditation approval process, the government said in a letter to ADTOA.
But ADTOA president Andrew Schwartz said he knew of overseas-trained doctors leaving Australia because they felt they were unfairly treated.
"Anybody from a non-English speaking country is targeted, the worse your accent is, the more you're targeted," Mr Schwartz said.
"At a minimum, we're telling them don't come to NSW, some of the other states aren't so bad."
Mr (Mr) Schwartz said the decision to warn against practicing in NSW came after he received a letter of complaint from the NSW Resident Medical Officers' Association (RMOA).
RMOA alleged foreign-trained doctors were the target of widespread prejudice, given no support to adjust to the Australian health system, were negatively assessed and made to feel they were a burden to their medical team.
The letter said overseas-trained doctors were often humiliated at work.
Mr Schwartz said the situation was worse in city areas where Australian doctors were trying to protect their own interests.
However, Australian Medical Association (AMA) NSW president Associate Professor John Gullotta said he had not heard of any problems between Australian and overseas-trained doctors.
Programs already were in place to help doctors coming into Australia to adjust to the community and learn specific cultural issues, he said.
"We've got a workforce shortage as it is, so we are relying on overseas-trained doctors, so the community is delighted to have them where they are needed," Professor Gullotta said.
©AAP 2006