Dud doctor dilemma

With an ongoing shortage of general practitioners, Western Australia, in the short term at least, must recruit foreign doctors. There is a slight problem with this strategy, however: "overseas-trained doctors are over-represented in those people who end up before disciplinary hearings".

The exact problem here is unclear. It could be that imported doctors, many of whom end up in rural areas, are ill equipped to practice medicine without supervision – they could be young and green, for example. Or the problem could be largely cultural. Then again, it could be that at least some of these doctors are not properly trained.

With the number of foreign doctors likely to continue to increase it's a worry no matter what's causing the problem.