Thousands of overseas nurses and doctors to reinforce strained Australian health system
The Federal Government is planning to ease COVID-19 international border restrictions to bring in thousands of doctors and nurses to bolster health systems in New South Wales and Victoria.
The plan would see 2000 overseas medical workers – largely from the UK and Ireland – enter the country.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Federal Government was working with states and territories to launch the “one-off boost” for Australia’s health system.
“This will be a one-off boost to provide additional support. The Commonwealth is committed to it and the states are working constructively with us on it,” Mr Hunt said.
Doctors and nurses who had already applied to come to Australia would be able to sidestep travel restrictions to book flights and take up jobs.
“They are all people who have applied. We don’t have to find them, they are people who are already looking to come to Australia,” Mr Hunt said.
“These are people coming from all around the world. That free flow of people is very important. Some may be joining families, some may be moving for a new life. That is an ordinary part of life and it is up to individuals to be able to choose, subject to a nation’s needs.”
Mr Hunt said the Federal Government’s proposal would not compromise quality of health skills.
“Safety remains, as always, the number one priority,” he said.
They government plans to fly the health workers here over the next six months and deployed to bolster outer suburban and regional hospitals and GP clinics.
British and Irish health staff are the focus of the plan because their qualifications are recognised here enabling them to start work immediately.
The Australian College of Nursing and health service employers previously raised concerns that the strict closure of international borders had isolated Australia from overseas medical workers during the pandemic.
Details of the plan emerged as health systems in Victoria and New South Wales strain under the impact of the Delta outbreak.
In the past two weeks, Ambulance Victoria had reported four of its five busiest days in history.
Victoria’s Triple Zero call system was also experiencing near-record levels of demand.
From next week, for the first time in Ambulance Victoria’s history, two paramedics will no longer be deployed to each ambulance.
Instead, a paramedic will be joined by a driver from the Australian Defence Force, St John Ambulance Australia, State Emergency Service, or a student paramedic.
