The college needs to do much more for IMGs, says this contender for the presidency.
When Dr Julian Fidge speaks about pharmacist prescribing, he does so from a position of authority – for more than 10 years, he worked as a community pharmacist.
“Pharmacists have a very sound set of skills, but they’re just not trained to be doing things like diagnosing and treating UTIs,” he says. “It’s well outside their scope of practice, their training and their education.”
He also believes his research into syringe supply by community pharmacies has helped reshape pharmacy practice through the provision of clean injecting equipment.
Dr Fidge is a GP and practice principal in Wangaratta, northeastern Victoria, with many years of Army Medical and NGO volunteer experience under his belt, including in several African countries.
Among other things, he mentors and trains IMGs for RACGP fellowship, but is concerned about they way they’re currently treated.
“It is incumbent on the RACGP to support those members,” he says. “I’ve been horrified by some of the developments that really diminish the contribution IMGs make to healthcare in Australia.”
And when it comes to healthcare, politicians of every stripe are largely the same, Dr Fidge says.
“One of the first decisions the new Albanese government made was to declare some of the inner metro areas as areas of need and that will just pull doctors out of rural and remote Australia, negatively affecting rural and remote healthcare.
“But I think this government is no better or worse than the last government,” he adds.
If elected RACGP president, he would develop the college as a source of independent expert policy advice as well as help government projects that are doomed to failure.
For more news on Dr Fidge’s push to revoke ivermectin prescribing restrictions, which broke after the podcast was recorded, see yesterday’s story.
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