Wider Scope For Overseas Doctors

Press, Issue 32333, 26 June 1970, Page 24

Wider Scope For Overseas Doctors

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 25. The scope for registration of doctors who qualified overseas will be widened with the enactment of legislation introduced in Parliament today.

The Medical Practitioners Amendment Bill, introduced by the Minister of Health (Mr McKay) extends opportunities for doctors with overseas qualifications to obtain registration in New Zealand, “and at the same time preserve satisfactory medical standards and competence in the profession.”

The bill provides for a probationary registration scheme for medical graduates from overseas whose basic medical degree is not at present recognised by the Medical Council and whose facility in the English language may not be adequate to enable them to communicate properly with colleagues and with patients.

Under the scheme, applicants may be granted probationary registration for a period of 18 months initially to practise in a specified hospital or institution. On the basis of satisfactory

performance <*vring the probationary period, full registration may oe sought after 12 months. Minor Kiatters such as disciplinary powers and membership of (he Medical Council committees are “tidied up" by the bill. At present, there is no statutory authority for an officer of the Health Department to lay a complaint of professional misconduct against a registered medical practitioner. On the recommendation of the Board of Health Committee on Drug Abuse and Drug Dependency, this authority will be given in the bill’s provisions. The bill was read a first time, and after a second reading pro forma was referred to the Social Services Committee.