Nearly 90% of medical board’s fast-tracked IMGs have ended up in metro areas
But IMGs are saving thousands of dollars in college fees, new report says.
Just 11% of the IMGs brought into Australia under AHPRA’s controversial fast-track pathway are working in rural areas of need, an evaluation has found.
The pathway was open to GPs and certain other specialists holding specific overseas qualifications in 2024. It has since expanded rapidly, with around 760 fast-tracked doctors registered to practise.
It was designed to bypass the medical colleges and was sold as an effective way to tackle Australia’s specialist workforce crisis.
But as December, only 50 specialists of the 476 specialist then registered had been placed in rural, regional or remote areas, with the rest in metro areas, according to the evaluation conducted by the Medical Board of Australia.
