Rural Australia relies heavily on, and benefits greatly from, the services and care provided by health professionals who have studied and trained in other countries. In many cases, if it were not for overseas-trained and qualified health professionals, these communities would not have access to essential care at all.
International medical and health graduates whether generalists or specialists were never meant, however, to fill the gap to the scale they are currently filling in rural Australia. Nor are they the long-term solution to 'growing our own' from rural Australia. Indeed, it often adds a complexity which is often overlooked, indeed ignored because of the dire maldistribution of doctors and other health professionals in Australia. Can we ethically continue to 'poach' overseas-trained doctors which come from the very countries we support in funding and development?
