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Australian Journal of Primary Health Australian Journal of Primary Health Society
The issues influencing community health services and primary health care
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 15(1)

Doctor supply in Australia: rural–urban imbalances and regulated supply1

Abhaya Kamalakanthan A B and Sukhan Jackson A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A University of Queensland, School of Economics, Level 6, Colin Clark Building, St Lucia, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: a.kamalakanthan@uq.edu.au

Australian Journal of Primary Health 15(1) 3-8 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY08055
Published: 19 March 2009

Abstract

We review the debate on the supply of doctors in Australia from an economic perspective. We focus on the supply between urban and rural areas and on Australia’s reliance on foreign-born overseas-trained doctors. Documented evidence shows that doctors are concentrated in cities and rural Australians have relatively poor access; and there is heavy reliance on the recruitment of foreign doctors. We suggest that besides training more local doctors, policy-making should include innovations to resolve the supply imbalance such as physician assistants and community pharmacy care in areas where access to general practitioners is often limited.


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| PubMed | devised the Robin Hood Index to measure the unequal allocation of doctors. The index is calculated as the number of GP per person divided by the crude mortality rate.