AMA prescribes a retired doctors roster
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) in Victoria wants extra government funding made available over the next four years so that retired doctors can be encouraged to re-enter the public hospital system to teach medical graduates wanting to specialise as surgeons, cardiologists, and obstetricians.
The AMA believes that as 557 medical graduates have just started as interns, that many will be unable to continue studying in areas such as neurosurgery and gynaecology because there are insufficient postgraduate training places.
The Victorian government has been asked to pay 70 retirees each year to work part-time in public hospitals as mentors to young doctors. Each retiree doctor would work an average of two four-hour shifts a week to accommodate 150 extra training places needed to address the specialist shortfall.
Dr Kevin Macdonald, the chairman of AMA Victoria’s retired doctors group, told The Age newspaper: “I’ve had quite a number of doctors say to me that you sort of fall into a vacuum after you retire. These are people who have been at the top of their profession for a very long time. For them to suddenly wander off into the wild blue yonder, it’s pretty daunting”.
