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Young doctors out in the cold (Shepparton News, letter to the editor)
27 November 2008
Shepparton, like most of country Victoria, is short of doctors and the Brumby Government is about to make the problem even worse.
Australian Medical Association Victoria is currently negotiating a new pay deal with the Victorian Government on behalf of doctors working in public hospitals.
The deal on the table offers a pay increase of 3.25 per cent per annum. Buried in the detail of the
Government's Log of Claims is a real kicker for Shepparton and country Victoria.
Currently, hundreds of Melbourne doctors undertake three-month rotations in country hospitals to further their learning.
AMA Victoria supports these rotations and sees them as a vital means to introducing junior doctors to regional life.
As these hundreds of doctors are required to do the country terms as a condition of their employment in Melbourne, it makes sense their accommodation is provided by their employer.
After all, a doctor based in Melbourne can't rent out their flat for those few weeks they are working in the country - otherwise they would have no home to go back to.
The current arrangement with hospitals is a sensible one.
Just the suggestion that the subsidy will disappear is breeding resentment for young doctors - and it certainly does not send a signal that country practice is valued.
AMA Victoria President Doug Travis
Victorian Medical Directory
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