| Medical service to remote areas of Australia is at present inadequate. Few medical school graduates enter general practice and fewer still rural practice. Health care delivery is complicated by great distances, sparse population, and high morbidity rates, particularly among the Aborigines. Medical care is currently provided by private practitioners, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service. A team of medical officers, nursing sisters, and field health inspectors visits outlying settlements at 3-6 week intervals. Physicians are difficult to recruit and services need more continuity. Resources could be better organized to provide multipurpose front line personnel, well-planned preventive services, local institutions for first aid, diagnoses, and public health, and more effective transportation - changes that would require only a marginal increase in the number of doctors. |