Vic: AMA warn of exodus of Victorian doctors interstate

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2006
Vic: AMA warn of exodus of Victorian doctors interstate

EDS: Strictly embargoed until 2200 (AEST) Monday, April 17.



MELBOURNE, April 17 AAP - Victorian doctors will leave the state in droves unless the
government matches pay rises introduced in other states, the Australian Medical Association
(AMA) has warned.

AMA Victoria president Mark Yates said doctors in Queensland were paid up to 50 per
cent more and those in NSW 56 per cent more than Victorian doctors as a result of initiatives
by the states to attract doctors to work in their public hospitals.

"Other states are setting themselves up to poach our doctors," Dr Yates said.

"We have an acute shortage of doctors working in Victoria and it is only going to get
worse if the Bracks government continues to fail to value and provide the necessary support
to doctors."

The Victorian government's recent submission to the productivity commission identified
a current shortage of 900 doctors and said this was expected to blow out to 1,500 by 2012.

The AMA is asking for a five per cent annual pay increase and improved work conditions.

But the association warned this would still leave a big gap between what doctors were
paid in Victoria compared to other states.

"Every week the papers are filled with positions for doctors in Queensland and New
South Wales. The alarm bells should be ringing for this government," Dr Yates said.

He said a $250 million commonwealth commitment initiative to boost medical student
numbers would take until 2012-2014 to produce more young doctors.

"In the meantime, our hospitals will be drained of doctors attracted by incentives
to move interstate," he said.

"We have cases of doctors in Victoria, surgeons at major metro hospitals, who are working
for the equivalent of $20-$30 an hour, little more than a waiter.

"Victoria needs more doctors now, and to attract new doctors we must be competitive
with other states."

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KEYWORD: DOCTORS (EMBARGOED)

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