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Journalism of Courage
The number of overseas doctors seeking to work in Australia has fallen by 90 per cent due to the federal Government’s handling of the case against Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, who was cleared of terror charges after being arrested in the foiled UK bombings, a medical association said on Sunday.
The Overseas and Australian Medical Graduates Association (OAMGA), in a joint statement with the United Indian Associations (UIA) group, said the massive drop in the number of doctors seeking temporary visas to work in Australia was exacerbating the existing health crisis.
“This spells disaster for an already overstretched and under-resourced medical work force—particularly for rural and regional areas where many of these doctors are posted,” OAMGA president Nagamma Prakash was quoted as saying by local media reports.
“In the various interviews given by the presidents of UIA and OAMGA to both national and international media, they predicted that overseas doctors planning to arrive in Australia would reconsider their decision … they have been proven correct,” the statement said.
Prakash also said there was “growing anger amongst Australians of Indian background” over the Howard Government’s handling of Haneef’s case, adding it had “brought discredit to the Indian community here in Australia”.
Revelation of emails between the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and an adviser to Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, talking of a “contingency” plan to use immigration law to keep Haneef in custody, had only heightened concerns, Prakash said.
“There is a growing body of evidence that Haneef was used as a political pawn,” he said.
“UIA and OAMGA strongly urge the federal Government, and the Immigration Minister, to restore credibility to recruitment process of overseas trained doctors, in order to avoid the looming crisis in the health delivery system.”
