Integration of overseas-trained doctors into the Australian medical workforce

However, the question that needs to be addressed, and which was the main thrust of my article,1 is why we don’t have a national coordinated approach to all elements of the pathway to integrating OTDs into the Australian health care system. This cannot be a largely political approach, as is the Australian Government’s Strengthening Medicare initiative, which is particularly weak in the areas of assessment for safe practice and support in training.

A recent article has highlighted the need for a national approach to coordinated governance for postgraduate medical education in Australia and the unsatisfactory complexity of medical education and training systems in this country.2 This excellent article includes only very brief reference to OTDs, using the term “international medical graduates”, 2 which is becoming the more acceptable term and the one recognised by other countries. It does not address the many gaps and problems in the pathways for this group.

The number of international medical graduates seeking employment and/or being actively recruited into the medical workforce in Australia each year is far greater than the number graduating from our own medical schools. Thus, there is a degree of urgency about the debate on postgraduate medical education in Australia. We need a national authoritative body, like the new United Kingdom Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board.