An unhealthy fixation

MEDICARE’S $750m overhaul (HS, 28/7) is certainly to be applauded, but RACGP president Dr Karen Price’s comment that “doctors were poorly paid compared with specialists” is very concerning.

It seems a sad indictment of the medical profession that money is apparently the significant factor in doctors’ choices after graduating with an MBBS. More unfortunate that we face “a GP shortage” where earning bigger bucks is the motivating force for good medical care and treatment. While years of hard work and study should clearly be credited to doctors, I can only ponder whether all sense of altruism and attention to Australian people’s health and wellbeing has been abandoned?  

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