Qld shame: $70k scheme stealing from those who can’t afford it

There is something morally repugnant about Queensland’s latest doctors and nurses recruitment scheme, writes Des Houghton.

There is something morally repugnant about wealthy nations recruiting doctors and nurses from poorer countries who can ill afford to lose them.

Australia is one of the worst offenders. Shamefully, the Queensland government is now offering “incentive payments” of up to $70,000 to lure doctors to Queensland from other states and abroad to come and save us. Nurses and allied health workers are promised up to $20,000 to come.

To my mind the incentives are little more than an attempt to cover up the state and federal governments’ lamentable failure to train enough nurses and doctors to meet demand.

I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to suggest people elsewhere will suffer because of our selfishness. And some of them will die.

We regularly poach doctors from India, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and of course New Zealand, Britain, Ireland and Canada.

I’m told we have in the past accepted doctors from Egypt whose grasp of English was basic, at best.

The trade in doctors and nurses has been going on for years because of our own incompetence – and perhaps indifference – in training more.

Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

About 19 years ago Peter Beattie confided to me that he felt “uncomfortable” about taking nurses from other countries.

Raids on international medicos have been going on for decades and the blame lies with state and federal governments across all the political divides. Our universities, too, have failed abysmally to train enough general practitioners and specialists to meet local demand, yet they
have imperiously refused to accept any blame.

Let’s not kid ourselves. The incentives announced by Yvette D’Ath when she was Health Minister appear to be an admission of failure. The incentives scheme smells to me like a desperate political fix to make the numbers look better in the lead-up to the election. D’Ath said the scheme would be a “win-win” for healthcare workers and Queenslanders.

It’s euphemistically called the Workforce Attraction Incentive Transfer Scheme and starts on the first day of next month and runs until June 30, 2025.

Former health minister Yvette D'Ath announced the scheme. Picture: Steve Pohlner

I was surprised the Australian Medical Association backed the incentive scheme while praising doctors who were “trying to do their best in a broken system”.

I think the AMA should also acknowledge that the university system is also broken.

With Queenslanders dying in ambulances waiting for a hospital bed, and with maternity units closed or on indefinite bypass, our health system is a wreck.

I’m told the overseas recruitment drive will push the number of overseas-trained clinicians employed in Queensland to well over 1000.

Right now, there are 900 doctors and nurses working on special visas.

Queensland Health boffins apparently see no wrong in taking doctors from nations like India and the Philippines – and Britain – where there are critical shortages.

Queensland Health tries to cover its tracks by blaming an “international shortage of key specialists” as “the greatest obstacle to the delivery of sustainable health services”.

“Unlike smaller jurisdictions, Queensland faces distinct healthcare challenges due to its large size and decentralised population and this increases our dependency on overseas-trained staff,” said a spokesperson who declined to be identified.

The international trade in doctors was brought into sharp focus last week when it was revealed that British doctors were being enticed to Australia on a salary of $240,000 for just 10, 10-hour shifts a month, with guarantees of 20 days off a month. There was also a $5000 sign-on bonus for those willing to stay 12 months.

Applicants are encouraged to “escape the grind” by having a working holiday in Australia.

Sam Whittaker from Blugibbon Medical Recruitment said his firm was inundated with applicants from the UK after the advertisement appeared there.

A shortlist of 80 doctors was made to fill a vacancy at Brisbane Northside Emergency Department at Chermside, a private, seven-day, 24-hour fee-for-service practice.

British-born, Sydney-based Whittaker says on his website that “hundreds if not thousands” of
British doctors were interested in jobs in Australia.

He spoke as UK papers reported a poll by the British Medical Association that found a third of junior doctors were planning to move abroad in the next 12 months, with Australia the top choice.

Whittaker told me he rejected criticisms in England of poaching saying doctors were motivated by “opportunity”.

He says he has helped more than 300 doctors from all over the world relocate to Australia. Many wanted to escape civil disorder at home, to continue specialist studies.
Others simply wanted a better life for their families.

He also said Blugibbon had played a vital role finding doctors to provide locums in rural and remote Australia while local GPs took vacations.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency was quicker to accept doctors from five countries whose medical schools are comparable to Australia’s.

Whittaker said non-specialist doctors from Britain, Ireland, the US, Canada and New Zealand could practise in Australia without sitting an exam.

“Doctors from these countries settle in very quickly and pick things up very quickly,” Whittaker said.