Put Doctors In Charge, Not Lawyers, Accountants And Mbas

28 September 2007

The current crisis in hospitals and what happened at Royal North Shore is a sign of system failure presided over by the Minister for Health.

Reba Meagher should resign and give her time to looking at labour laws rather than health.

Ms Meagher has a law degree. Who decided that a lawyer with industrial relations expertise would make a good health minister?

The main reason that hospitals have become a joke is because of who is running them. Most hospitals are run by bean-counters and management gurus who have acquired a great degree of book knowledge from doing a course in hospital management.

It also reflects on the terrible standard of teaching. Australian universities will reward you with a degree in anything from carpet cleaning to toilet flushing as long as you pay $20,000 a year for four years.

I speak about this issue from personal experience as I ran a public hospital for many years but fortunately had a CEO who understood his limitations and did not interfere with the medical side of things.

Our consultants who formed the Honorary Medical Board sorted issues before they became a problem. Nowadays the decisions are made by clerical staff who have been elevated to management.

This is also a message for nursing staff, who have been so enveloped by their uni degrees that they want authority but refuse to accept responsibility.

The solution is to let hospitals be run by doctors whose training, dedication and sincerity can not be questioned. The only interest they have is in patients' welfare. The health system cannot be run by lawyers and accountants.

It is about time that the Premier appointed some one who is capable and has extensive medical training. I am sure there are many doctors in Sydney who could do this job better than all the accountants and management gurus put together.

Dr Deepak Malhotra (ex-medical superintendent, Liverpool Hospital) Pyrmont


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