-JimCHEAP DOCTORS FOR THE RICH
Be warned. The following article has political overtones.
Are you aware that the Howard Government entices one thousand doctors per year from developing countries to come to Australia?
Developing countries desperately need doctors, yet by whatever means these countries manage to train some of their own people, they are then enticed to Australia on temporary permit visas. If they can pass the Australian Medical Association’s exams, they can then become residents ahead of refugees. To make matters worse, these temporary doctors, found by agencies working for the Australian Government, are not even assessed for their level of English, let alone their clinical competence. What a recipe for future problems.
These doctors are enticed here to fill the vacancies (not only in rural areas) caused by insufficient money being given to our universities to train Australians as doctors. To add insult to injury, Australian universities, in order to make up the shortfall in their funding and to keep their doors open for our own students, are forced to take in overseas students who pay full fees, in effect subsidising local students.
Last month we read that the Howard Government is going to allow these doctors to do their internships and advanced training here, and no doubt he hopes many of them will stay as permanent residents to staff our hospitals. This means they will pay huge amounts for their own education, and then Australia accepts them as ‘user friendly’ migrants, saving our government millions of dollars. How cynical can you be?
We have enough money to help the USA invade a country far away from here on spurious grounds (non-existent weapons of mass destruction) in order to allow American oil companies to get hold of that country’s oil. We also have enough money to bribe the Australian population with tax cuts (particularly the wealthy) yet we can’t train enough doctors to staff our hospitals. If anything, we should be training doctors to send to developing countries to help them out. But then this government’s last instinct is to help the deprived, the sick or the poor and needy.
Long ago, peoples agreed that civilised societies had an obligation to take care of the sick, the poor and the elderly, and that everyone should have access to education. In order to fulfil these obligations, the whole of society would contribute money in the form of taxes to pay for these desirable measures according to the income and ability of each member of that society.
Human nature being what it is, there are always a few members of society who either endeavour to pay as little as they can on one hand, or try to get more than their fair amount. One doesn’t expect one’s own government to be a party to that sort of thing – paying as little as possible and assisting those who are better off than the majority to get more than their fair share. Ooh! I feel sick! Call a doctor!
-Jim
