The Sydney GP has worked tirelessly to improve the state of primary care.
Respected Sydney GP Dr Walid Jammal has been awarded the 2024 Sidney Sax Medal for outstanding contributions to the development and improvement of our healthcare system.
The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association has been awarding the medals since 1986 to people who have made outstanding contributions in health services policy, organisation, delivery and research.
Dr Jammal, a GP in Sydney’s Hills district, co-chaired the Primary Care Reform Steering Group working on Australia’s Primary Health Care 10-year Plan with Dr Steve Hambleton under the previous government. He was a member of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce and advises the present government as a member of the Strengthening Medicare Implementation Oversight Committee.
He is also co-chair of the GP Advisory Group for the NSW Health Agency for Clinical Innovation, a member of the Medicare Services Advisory Committee and a board member of the Western Sydney Local Health District, and until recently was on the board of the Western Sydney PHN. He has worked with state and federal governments testing and developing integrated care models.
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AHHA board chair Jillian Skinner said Dr Jammal’s “dedication to quality and safety in health care, along with his expertise in health system policy and reform, has made him an invaluable asset to the healthcare sector, and we are pleased to recognise his decades-long commitment to strengthening primary care in Australia”.
“His work in primary care and in systems policy has been of great benefit not only to improving the health of the people he cares for in practice, but also to the community and the Australian health system as a whole,” she said.
“He is a strong advocate for patient-centred care, and how we can best embrace the benefits of multidisciplinary team care, digital technology and funding model reforms.”
Dr Sidney Sax was a South African-born doctor of medicine and public health who emigrated to Australia in 1960. He set up the Hospitals and Health Services Commission in the 1970s and, along with Professor John Deeble, played a key role in building Medibank, Australia’s first national health insurance scheme.
