Screening of Overseas Doctors Hits Deadlines Again
The September 27, 2007 issue of The Age quoted Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews. saying that ‘Australians cannot be confident in the way overseas-trained doctors are vetted’ (screened).
It has been revealed that Indian doctor Mohammed Asif Ali exaggerated his employment experience and lied about his working background in order to obtain a job offer in Queensland.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Andrews said that the Government did not know how many doctors might have been let into the country with false qualifications, but ‘it’s obviously concerning that this discrepancy in Queensland was only discovered as a result of an Australian Federal Police investigation’.
Mr. Andrews has requested the state medical boards to review the screening process of overseas trained medical practitioners.
The September 27, 2007 news article stated that the state and federal governments agreed to set up a national system for assessing overseas-trained doctors. This plan was discussed in July 2006 and it was supposed to have been put in place in December 2006. However, the system has not been implemented yet.
Screening of overseas doctors seems to hit the headlines regularly.
As Indian doctor Mohammed Asif Ali lost his job at the Gold Coast Hospital, Jayant Patel, known as ‘Dr. Death’ was linked to the death of 17 patients at the Bundaberg Base Hospital, also in Queensland.
The responsibility for checking the doctors’ qualifications rests with the medical boards and health departments of the states and territories. The Department of Immigration has the responsibility of checking the character and other security issues and the issuance of the visas.
A number of foreign medical professionals obtain 457 visas and they are able to work in Australia. It is possible that stricter checking would be implemented before visas would be issued.
In the meantime, on 26th September 2007, the Australian Medical Council (AMC), has introduced a Competent Authority Pathway which would allow some International Medical Graduates to gain exemption from the AMC examinations. The Australian Medical Council is an independent national standards body for medical education and training. On the website of the AMC, it stated that the Minister for Health and Ageing, The Hon. Tony Abbott MHR, has approved the revised recognition Guidelines, The Recognition of Medical Specialties – Policy and Process (2007).
The full Competent Authority model is only currently available in Queensland and is expected to become available in other states/territories when the administrative arrangements (including relevant legislative amendments) are implemented.
Additional information about the new AMC recognition process can be found at www.amc.org.au.
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Migration regulations are current at the time of writing this article. DIAC has the right to change these regulations at any time. This article has been written to provide general information only. Readers should seek professional advice to discuss their particular situations.
Estelle McNally, is a Registered Migration Agent MARN 9903113,
McNally Migration Solutions, Suite 1, 2nd Floor,
3 Avondale Street, Springvale 3171
(03) 9547 9055, 0418 171 951, (03) 5997-7450; Fax: (03) 9547 9066;
website: www.mcnallymigrationaustralia.com; Email: mcnallymigration@bigpond.com |
