STATE Health Minister Michelle O'Byrne says that as much is being done as possible to recruit urgently needed specialists for Northern Tasmania.
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Opposition health spokesman Jeremy Rockliff said yesterday that it was a disgrace that a neurologist position in the North had not been filled three years after it was left vacant by the death of Launceston specialist Stan Siejka.
Mr Rockliff asked Ms O'Byrne in Parliament yesterday why the position had not been filled.
Health Services has refused for several weeks to disclose the length of the waiting list for specialist clinics at Northern public hospitals.
Australian Medical Association Northern Tasmanian spokesman Glen Richardson confirmed this week that the region had a serious shortage of gynaecologists in the private sector and no neurologists. Dr Richardson said that Launceston general practitioners were referring patients to Melbourne to see neurologists.
Ms O'Byrne told Parliament that the issue of specialist training had been in the spotlight for about 15 years with several reports written but little practically done on a national basis.
The Expanded Specialist Training Program was set up to improve the capacity and productivity of the health sector and provide clinical education for increased university and vocational education and training, Ms O'Byrne said.
She was unable to provide a short-term solution to the Northern specialist shortage.
``There are some shortages within our medical specialities and our CEOs have worked incredibly hard to recruit the best doctors,'' she said.