Federal Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry has joined the Rural Doctors Association of Australia’s calls for the Albanese Labor Government to urgently review and reverse changes made to requirements for overseas doctors to provide care in rural and regional communities before receiving an unrestricted Medicare provider number.
These calls come after the Albanese Labor Government scrapping the requirement for overseas trained doctors (OTDO who wish to live and work in Australia to spend time providing medical care in rural and regional communities, by adding all large regional centres (MMM2) and outer metro areas (MMM1) to the District of Priority Area (DPA)
Ms Landry congratulated RDAA’s advocacy on this important issue.
“I want to applaud President Dr Megan Belot and the RDAA for continuing to advocate on this important issue.
“Communities in Capricornia are experiencing some of the worst doctor shortages in Australia and the Albanese Labor Government are deliberately making things worse.
“Due to this policy change, RDAA are reporting that agencies are now actively searching for doctors already registered in Australia, which will unfairly push the entire burden of international recruitment to the small medical practices in rural towns.
“This change will likely lead to communities left with a smaller number of doctors or none at all. Our regional and rural communities deserve better than this,” Ms Landry said.
