Health Questions In Need Of Leaders' Debate Answers, Australia

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 20 Oct 2007 - 13:00 PDT

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AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said today that tomorrow night's Leaders' Debate from Parliament House must provide voters with some clarity and confidence about where the major parties are headed with health policy.

Dr Capolingua said the Debate offers the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader a unique opportunity to set out their vision for the future of the health system directly to the Australian people.

"Now that the respective tax policies are out in the open, the focus must now be on how each side plans to invest the considerable Budget surplus in key community services, including health," Dr Capolingua said.

The AMA looks forward to Mr Howard and Mr Rudd answering the following questions:

- Will you commit to bridging the 17-year life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and the rest of the population by promising at the very minimum an extra $460 million a year in new funding for primary care Indigenous health services?

- Do you promise to increase the Commonwealth contribution to public hospital funding by $3 billion in the first year (2008-09) and commit to indexation of 8-9 per cent annually in the next Australian Health Care Agreement?

- Will you provide substantial additional incentives to train, attract and retain GPs and specialists in rural, regional and remote Australia, and fund and maintain country hospitals so as to enable country Australians to enjoy medical services at a level equal to those available to city patients?

- Will you invest substantially and strategically in aged care to cope with an ageing population in greater numbers and with greater health needs, and to encourage more GPs to visit aged care facilities?

- Will you provide leadership, funding and innovative public health programs to improve nutrition and encourage exercise to combat the obesity epidemic that is engulfing the Australian population, especially our young people?

- Will you provide the infrastructure and resources needed to provide quality clinical training - in both public and private settings - for the large number of medical students currently enrolled in medical training?

These issues and more are detailed in the AMA's Key Issues for the 2007 Federal Election publication, which is available at http://www.ama.com.au.

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