Page 2523 - Week 08 - Thursday, 19 August 1993
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Doctors were the first profession covered by the scheme and our Government's amendments to the Medical Practitioners Registration Act took effect in April of this year. Currently the Pharmacy Bill is before the Assembly and I will be introducing other legislation relating to health professionals progressively over the next few months. As a separate issue, Health Ministers acknowledged the crucial role which nurses have in our health system and the importance of looking at the profession's range of needs beyond the 1990s. We considered the future of nurse education and careers, and agreed to a national review which will look at the changing needs of the nursing workplace and ensure that education and career paths are broad enough to satisfy those needs.
The continuation of the national women's health program was another significant achievement of the conference. I have agreed to match the Commonwealth's offer of funding for the ACT for a further 12 months. This will be made available during the 1993-94 financial year to ensure the continuation of existing ACT services until the final program evaluation is complete. That evaluation will be a useful benchmark for women's health services and will help to determine the future direction of these services.
Another issue which was raised at the Health Ministers Conference was that of a lack of adequate data being one of the main obstacles to a satisfactory immunisation program in Australia. It was agreed in principle that 1 July 1994 will be the target date for the implementation of a national strategy to ensure that children in Australia are appropriately immunised at no cost to their families. This strategy will allow for the development of a national tendering and purchasing process which will ensure the lowest possible prices for vaccines, and a national data collection and monitoring system to enable measurement of the success of the strategy.
The implementation of the strategy will help us work towards the childhood immunisation rates recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council. The target rates depend on the individual vaccine and disease. For example, for measles the aim is 95 per cent coverage, while polio is 82 to 87 per cent coverage. By the year 2000 States and Territories will be working towards the universal coverage of school-age children against vaccine-preventable diseases.
Health Ministers also supported the development of a national plan of action to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. Although Australia has the lowest level of tuberculosis in the world, this is one disease which is on the rise overseas and we need to have strategies in place to prevent its re-emergence in this country. A plan is currently being developed and will be considered at the next Health Ministers meeting in early 1994.
The Ministers also agreed to continue the national HIV-AIDS strategy for the next three years. The strategy will be revised to allow States and Territories greater flexibility to respond to issues in our own jurisdictions. The importance of the partnership between government at all levels, health professionals and both affected communities and the community as a whole will be emphasised and strengthened in the revised national strategy.
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