Australian Medical Association

An AMA poll shows that people are overwhelmingly more concerned about being able to get to see a doctor when they need one rather than whether the doctor bulk bills. AMA President, Dr Bill Glasson, said today that the poll result 72 per cent concerned about access to a doctor compared to just 21 per cent who see bulk billing as more important confirms the long-held AMA view that access to quality medical care is more important to patients than bulk billing.

Morbidity associated with chronic lung disease in Aboriginal children could be reduced with appropriate follow-up care after hospitalisation for pneumonia, according to research published in the most recent edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.

AMA Vice President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, responds to the report from Monash University on its findings on the employment of overseas trained doctors in Australia.

AMA Vice President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, said today that changes to the PBS due to take effect from 1 August are an inept attempt to pull back the costs of the PBS and direct the flak for this to doctors. Dr Haikerwal was responding to the Government's announcement that it will make it more difficult for patients to get prescriptions for some drugs.

While the headlines may be dominated by Iraq, the cricket World Cup, and the State election here in New South Wales, there is one major area of concern for the Australian people that continues to bubble under the surface ready to explode onto the front pages at any minute. That area of concern is health - the health of all Australians today and into the future. Even in these troubled times, health issues do occasionally manage to break through the world news because the Australian people are starting to demand answers to the problems they know are besetting the health system - their health system.

"I've just emerged from a two hour meeting with the Prime Minister and two Ministers, and we've had a very important discussion about the future of the health system in this country and about Medicare," AMA President, Dr Kerryn Phelps said. "I have to say that in other circumstances you would be hearing today from me about what would be on the front pages and the lead stories in your news bulletins but, given international events, that's going to be another matter. "But I do have to say that health is the major domestic policy concern for Australians. It is something that I am pleased to say the government has now turned its full attention to, and there will be some changes to the way the health system works, and to Medicare policy."

Many Australian laws relating to abortion are unclear and outdated, placing medical practitioners at risk of prosecution, according to an article published in the current issue of the Medical Journal of Australia. The authors, Dr Lachlan de Crespigny, Honorary Fellow at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, and Dr Julian Savulescu, Visiting Professor at the Institute, say that many of Australia's abortion laws, which differ from state to state, are based on an 1861 English law that has since been repealed in the United Kingdom.

"The fact remains that there is a subset of patients for whom the only effective treatment is cannabis," said Dr Kerryn Phelps.

"The NSW election is over. It's time to get back to work on the Australian Health Care Agreements, which expire on 30 June 2003," AMA President Dr Kerryn Phelps said today. Dr Phelps made the comments in response to Federal Health Minister Senator Kay Patterson's comments in February that she would not attend the Ministerial conference on 21 February because of the NSW election.

AMA President, Dr Bill Glasson, said today that the AMA shares the concerns of small business groups and other member organisations about possible collateral damage to community small businesses from the Government's Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment (Anti Avoidance and Other Measures) Bill 2004. Dr Glasson said the AMA supports the primary objective of the legislation, which is to catch corporate high flyers who set out to deliberately cheat the system, but there are genuine fears that innocent small business operators, including doctors, could be harmed.