TRANSCRIPT
When Reemi Chakraborty brought her family to Australia from Bangladesh, she left behind a career lecturing in medicine.
But after almost a decade living in Darwin, she's still struggling to have her qualifications recognised.
The pathway is complex and uncertain.
Even getting to a testing centre run by the Australian Medical Council, or AMC, can be a challenge.
"We have no actual A-M-C centre to sit an exam so that means you need to travel interstate. Exam fees are very high and also top off that with accommodation and flights - it's very expensive."
Reemi's husband is also a doctor.
To go through the standard qualification pathway, both have to pass an English test and two AMC exams.
Reemi's first sitting was delayed by Covid restrictions when she went on a family trip to her homeland.
"I was planning to sit an exam in 2020 but the Covid (meant) I was stuck, so I need(ed) to come back in two years. I did just pass my part one exam. Now (it's) my partner's turn - he will sit, and let's see how he is doing."
The tests are not cheap - overseas graduates are paying up to four thousand dollars an exam.
But pass rates are as low as 25 per cent.
Dr Faizur Reza is General Secretary of the Bangladesh Medical Association of New South Wales.
"A lot of them actually go through personal and family crisis. There's a lot of depression and anxiety and some of them eventually give up their training and career. If you look at them, the doctors from -wherever they come from - they go through rigorous training and study. Five to six years of prolonged study, and then they have a lot of dreams and desire to help the distressed community. But when they change their location and come to a new environment, they find it not only challenging... but having a little bit of help, that makes a huge difference."
Dr Ayaz Chowdhury is the founder of the Federation of Bangladesh Medical Societies of Australia.
He wants to see the government introduce a bridging course and workplace assessments before candidates sit the clinical exam.
"We are trying to appeal to the government to give them a bridging course so they know how the system runs. Utilise the Australian citizens who are waiting here to get into the system."
For those who pass do both exams, it can be just the beginning of many hurdles.
Medical associations say hundreds of doctors remained locked out of the workforce.
Dr Chowdhury says the agency that regulates Australia's health practitioners, known as AHPRA ((pronounced ap-ra, for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency)), has a role to play.
"We would ask the federal government - the state government - to combine the AHPRA ((ap-ra)) and the AMC to find out the pool of doctors."
A recent review found 860 doctors are needed to fill immediate gaps in G-P numbers alone, with another 10,600 required over the next eight years.
Associate Professor Reza Ali is president of the Bangladesh Medical Association of New South Wales.
"Australia... especially rural and remote areas are suffering. The patients are suffering - the population is suffering - and yet in our backyard we've got so many graduates so many qualified doctors."
Dr Ali says helping them understand the Australian healthcare culture is key.
"How do we do it in Australia? You've probably done it this way, the country you came from, and that was OK. But over here we do it slightly differently: we engage the patient, we engage the family of the patient, and we have a holistic approach to the care of the patient, which might be different from the coutnry they've come from. That doesn't mean they're not doctors, that doesn't mean they can't learn that. I find that my role is to show them how we do it over so that they can integrate themselves into the Australian healthcare system easily."
The Commonwealth has pledged to help achieve that aim, committing $90 million to smoothing the pathway for overseas practitioners moving to Australia.
Health Minister Mark Butler.
"In the first 10 months of this financial year alone, twice as many overseas trained health professionals have come to Australia to do their imapct work, than were recruited in the final year before the Covid pandemic."
But the Bangladesh Medical Association says a greater focus is needed on the doctors already here - something they have been working with the Australian Medical Council to review.
Reemi Chakraborty hopes the government will help migrants to help Australia.
"Train like as an international doctor as a trainee in the hospital... in the new system, their system. That would be helpful for the doctors, so they will know the environment and next time they will be the resource for Australia"
