Image via Wikipedia
The Government has recently warned that New Zealand faces a serious shortage of more than 3,000 doctors within the next fifteen years. A recently rele
ased report indicated that there must be a refined focus to train more doctors and increase incentives to keep medical professionals within the country. The Health Minister, Tony Ryall claimed that New Zealand is heavily reliant on overseas trained doctors, the highest proportion of any Western country, with suggestions that senior doctors should be encouraged to stay on in the public system past the current retirement age.
It is especially noted, that due to the reliance on farming and rural communities to support such industry, that many rural areas are currently under-served. The National Party went so far as to say that New Zealand’s health system could face the threat of collapse, especially in rural areas, without the importation of suitably qualified doctors from overseas to fill the vacant positions. In response to these claims, the party is advocating the development of initiatives such as encouraging District Health Boards to offer student loan write-offs for those willing to work in hard-to-staff areas.
This situation is not limited to New Zealand, with many countries globally experiencing the same rural deficiencies in qualified doctors. Many small communities are experiencing shortages. Local doctors are often perceived to be overworked and have difficulties sourcing new staff members as many younger doctors are reluctant to relocate to rural areas. Many healthcare professionals have a preference to live in urban and metropolis areas for various reasons. As many training doctors are located within urban environments, the centre for educational institutions, they become dependent on the facilities made available to them in these settings. Additionally, friendships and family relationships that have been nurtured in these environments make the move away to a rural urban that much harder. The lack of rural doctors and other healthcare professionals appears to be the result, in part, due to the lack rurally based students attending medical training, a lack of rural medical role models and the inexperience of rural encounters they have.
Interviews conducted with rural and urban based physicians have shown that rural, or ‘country’ doctors today have a wider scope of knowledge than their urban counterparts. In addition, it was found that rural healthcare professionals have closer interpersonal relationships with their patients, as they are part of the community they live in.
In response to these concerns, the Government has initiated innovative schemes to increase the number of GP training placements it funds each year. It has also dedicated an additional $900,000 towards a scheme that aims to supervise immigrating doctors during their hospital intern year. ‘Ready for Work’ is another scheme that aims to partner up overseas trained doctors with current practicing doctors and District Health Boards to assist them in the development of new skills and aligning their skills and qualifications to the New Zealand standards.
Geneva Health International Ltd is a leader in its field of health staffing and recruitment. They have a wide variety of major staff supply contracts, within Australia, New Zealand, UK and overseas, and have extensive experience in meeting the needs of a significant number of large and small health organisations.
Geneva Doctors is a specialist medical recruitment service experienced in placing medical staff in positions of their choice. Dedicated solely to medical staffing and recruitment services, the Recruitment Consultants have specific experience and expertise in recruiting doctors. Find Doctor Jobs here.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sian_G_Wilson
