Refugee doctors who escaped the horrors of war in Afghanistan and the Ukraine are being given a pathway to practice medicine in Australia thanks to a special program at Mater Hospital Brisbane.
The six-month Observership Program enables doctors from a refugee background to study Australian healthcare and culture across key hospital departments as a precursor to treating patients in their adopted country.
Dr Karim Amani is currently an observer in the emergency department of the South Brisbane hospital, after having fled from Baghlan in Afghanistan in 2019.
It's a far cry from his previous role as an orthopaedic and trauma surgeon in hospitals which were supported by the US-led international forces in Afghanistan.
"In the emergency department in Afghanistan, we would be treating 20 to 40 patients needing attention at once from a bomb explosion," he said.
"Here in Australia, we can treat people one-on-one. The culture and the health system are very different – but better here in Australia."
Dr Karim would sometimes spend 48 hours in emergency departments in Afghanistan, sitting down to snatch an hour or two's sleep whenever he could.
Following the Taliban takeover of the country in 2021, Dr Karim said he could not return to his homeland as his work involved translating for the US military – making him a target for reprisals.
It would take him 10 years to re-qualify an as orthopaedic surgeon in Australia, but he hopes to find work as a general practitioner or emergency medicine physician after completing the Mater program.
The theme of this year's Refugee Week (16 – 22 June) is 'Finding Freedom' and Mater hopes the Observership Program will help doctors like Dr Karim regain their professional identity.
The program at Mater, which has been relaunched after a hiatus during COVID, enables doctors who are trained overseas to observe care across departments including emergency care, infectious diseases, cardiology, neurology and Mater's own Refugee Complex Care Clinic.
Run by Mater Refugee Health, the Health and Community Services Sectors Workforce Development program is funded by the State Government via the Queensland Care Consortium.
Observership program coordinator Gabby Weiss said the Observership Program addresses an unmet need among international medical graduates, enhances diversity in Queensland's medical workforce and supports patient care.
"Refugees face more barriers to re-enter the medical profession than other international medical graduates due to the additional complexity of their refugee journey," she said.
Common barriers to refugee doctors included the high cost of Australian Medical Council exams, the difficulty of obtaining primary verification documents from home countries and the unconscious bias of potential employers.
Ms Weiss said the program helped participants to overcome these barriers, providing a clearer pathway to returning to their chosen profession and enhancing healthcare in Australia.
"A diverse health system is more likely to develop a workforce that is built on exceptional knowledge, cultural wisdom and innovative practice which will provide a positive experience for clinicians and patients," she said.
Mater has been providing care for refugees for more than 20 years with doctors and clinicians volunteering their time to ensure all people in Queensland have equal access to high-quality healthcare.
Mater's Refugee Complex Care Clinic (MRCCC) is the longest continuing clinic of its kind in Australia and provides care at no cost to those seeking asylum who do not have Medicare and have complex healthcare needs.
The Observership Program is unique to Mater and started as a pilot project in 2020, successfully supporting five international medical graduates with positions at Mater Hospital Brisbane.
Dr Manal Aqrawe, project manager of the Observership Program, secured a position as a Senior Medical Officer at Redcliffe Hospital after completing the program, and has returned to Mater to support the new observers.
Dr Inna Malynochka worked as an obstetrician gynaecologist in Ukraine for more than a decade before moving to Australia in 2017.
Her home city of Vinnitsya was damaged during conflicts and she is determined to make a new life for herself and three children in Brisbane after enrolling in the Observership Program.
"The Observership Program is giving me confidence for the future and helping me understand how the medical system works in Australia," she said.
"You feel like you're in a big family, even though you are in a new country and you need help. I don't know where I will work as a doctor again or when but the program is giving me a lot of possibilities. Any job as a doctor would make me happy."
