The Health News Australia July 19 2017

Overview

• Australia’s healthcare system has been ranked among the best in the developed world by a team of American researchers who have ranked their own country’s system the worst. In a study involving 11 different national health care models, researchers at the New York-based Commonwealth Fund ranked Australia’s mixed public-private system 2nd best.
• Medical students want public universities banned from the “money-grabbing” practice of offering Australian students full-fee-paying places for medical degrees, saying it unfairly preferences wealthy candidates. Domestic full-fee-paying places costing upwards of $ 300,000 have no place in public universities, and threaten to exacerbate the national shortage of medical internships, the Australian Medical Students’ Association has warned.
• An increasing number of babies are being admitted to South Australian hospitals for preventable tooth decay with sugary drinks, non-fluoridated bottled water and poor dental hygiene being blamed.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 19th of July 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News

http:www.abc.net.aunews2017-07-17australian-healthcare-ranked-second-best-in-developed-world8716326

Australia’s healthcare system has been ranked among the best in the developed world by a team of American researchers who have ranked their own country’s system the worst.  

In their study of eleven different national health care models, researchers at the New York-based Commonwealth Fund ranked Australia’s mixed public-private system second best.

They concluded the United Kingdom’s National Health Service was the best system overall,  followed by Australia, then the Netherlands, with Norway and New Zealand sharing fourth place.

Comparing Australia and the other countries to their homeland, the authors said the US performs relatively poorly on population health outcomes,  such as infant mortality and life expectancy at age sixty  and that the US has the highest rate of mortality amenable to healthcare and has experienced the smallest reduction in that measure during the past decade.  Despite spending nearly twice as much as several other countries, the country’s performance is lacklustre.  The publication of the study’s conclusions have come as US President Donald Trump puts pressure on Republican senators to repeal his predecessor Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms.  In May, House Republicans narrowly voted through the Obamacare repeal bill,  and their counterparts in the Senate are due to vote on the repeal in the next few weeks.

Speaking over the weekend, Mister Trump said his reforms would make America’s healthcare system work better,  even though two senators from the President’s own party have declared they cannot vote for it.  Mister Trump has since been pushing them to change their minds stating that the Senate is going to vote on legislation to save Americans from the Obamacare disaster.

http:www.smh.com.aunationalhealthmedical-students-oppose-money-grab-by-universities-offering-private-medical-degrees-20170718-gxd9w8.html

Medical students want public universities banned from the “money-grabbing” practice of offering Australian students full-fee-paying places for medical degrees,  saying it unfairly preferences wealthy candidates.  Domestic full-fee-paying places costing upwards of three hundred thousand dollars have no place in public universities, and threaten to exacerbate the national shortage of medical internships, the Australian Medical Students’ Association has warned.  The practice threatened to entrench inequality among the future doctor workforce,  according to AMSA’s new policy unanimously passed by the peak body representing seventeen thousand medical students.  “It’s a money grab, essentially,” AMSA president Rob Thomas said.

In two thousand and seventeen the full cost of a private university medical degree was three hundred sixty one thousand eight hundred seventy two dollars compared to the capped  ten thousand five hundred ninety-six dollars per year  eligible for HECS-HELP. AMSA’s stance comes after the Australian Medical Association’s staunch opposition to Macquarie University’s plans to open a private medical school for full-fee-paying students.  

“This is an ill-conceived [idea] that will simply waste precious health system resources for the benefit of a privileged few who will be able to afford entry,”  AMA national president Michael Gannon and AMA NSW President Brad Frankum wrote in a letter to Assistant Minister for Health David Gillespie in December.

As of two thousand and fifteen, two hundred thirty of the three thousand seven hundred and seven who attended medical school were in domestic full-fee-paying places,  sixty eight of whom were at public universities, primarily University of Melbourne,  and one student at each of University of New South Wales, Western Sydney University, University of Sydney and the University of Adelaide.  The other one hundred sixty two were at private universities, University of Notre Dame and Bond University.

http:www.9news.com.auhealth201707181101tooth-decay-in-sa-youngsters-on-the-rise#AYza8y1J0W6SGS0U.99

An increasing number of babies are being admitted to South Australian hospitals  for preventable tooth decay with sugary drinks, non-fluoridated bottled water and poor dental hygiene being blamed.  In the last year twenty four babies less than twelve-months-old were admitted to hospital for extractions and tooth fillings  with some requiring general anaesthetic, Health Minister Jack Snelling said.

He also states that there really is no excuse for parents not to be taking care of the dental care of the children  when they are lucky enough to have access to the free school dental clinic.  In the same period, two thousand five hundred children under the age of eight required dental treatment under general anaesthetic  – a fifty five percent increase over the last decade.

“SA Dental Service remains concerned about the increasing numbers of young children with dental decay.  Hospitalisations due to tooth decay are preventable and early treatment in children is vital,” a health official said.