For a clear and rational discussion of medical migration, the issues do need to be separated out somewhat...
Firstly lets look at this pesky moratorium. Under the 10 year moratorium rule, overseas trained doctors or foreign graduates of accredited medical schools who either gained residency or were first registered with an Australian medical board in 1997 or later must work in an area of workforce shortage for at least 10 years. What this basically means is that doctors who are allowed to migrate to Australia in order to address our workforce shortages (which is what skilled migration is about I guess) are obliged to work in those areas where the workforce shortages are at their worst. As a general principle, this does not sound unreasonable and I don't have a problem with the moratorium as such.
In the spirit of informed consent, it is important that the moratorium is clearly explained to applicants before they start the application process. If the Australian Governments own website, DoctorConnect - which supposedly disseminates information for doctors thinking about coming to Australia - is anything to go by, the informed consent process may not be all it is cracked up to be. I mean... "OTDs and FGAMS who are subject to section 19AB are generally required to work in a DWS for a minimum period of 10 years"... I know about the moratorium and I find that hard to understand...
The requirement to pass knowledge and skills assessments as well as English language assessments before being able to work surely cannot be argued with. Our medical schools may not be perfect, but we do have reasonably high standards which the Australian people rightfully expect. In spite of the arguments about Australia being a nation of migrants where many people speak other languages, and how the English language limitations should not be a barrier to working as a doctor in Australia, Australia is an English speaking nation. The majority of the population (and therefore the patient group) speaks English, and English is the language that our laws and formal communications use, and the colleagues that we need to communicate with will mostly use English. The necessity of requiring overseas trained doctors to pass threshold assessments is self evident.
The key thing that makes it difficult for doctors trained overseas to work in Australia is the sheer and utter complexity of the migration system for doctors. I did try to search through the regulations for the different types of visas that can be applied for by doctors and found at least 5. Each different type of visa has different requirements, and the medical registration requirements can vary also. If a doctor's circumstances change, he/she may need to change the type of visa that they come in under, which may or may not in turn change the registration requirements.
To put things simply:
- If Australia is allowing overseas trained doctors in to address workforce shortages under a skilled migration process, then it is surely reasonable to ask the applicants to work in the areas of greatest workforce shortages.
- If we wish to maintain standards, then there has to be an assessment process for the skills and knowledge of doctors applying to work in Australia.
- English language skills are important.
- The migration system as it relates to medical migration is overly complex and lacks transparency.
