@pitman: Are internships done in Singapore and Hong Kong not recognized by Australia, the same way that they recognize New Zealand?
I have heard some claim (I think here, actually) that Singapore's internship in particular is "recognized", but I have yet to see any meaningful evidence (let alone qualification) of this, and it is contrary to publicly available regulations. I *could* be wrong, but I have not heard of any cases (where I could probe those people for what process they actually went through). I think the problem is people loosely using the term, "recognize". Not even Kiwi trained docs are recognized in the sense that they can just move over after internship and instantly get general (full) registration here!
The AMC is in charge of assessing medical qualifications (school and clinical) outside of Oz. The have two basic means for internationally trained docs to come here who are not yet specialists: the Competent Authority Pathway (CAP) and the Standard Pathway. CAP is easier, with no MCQ or clinical examination requirement, but the prerequisite is that you've done your school AND (comparable) internship in approved countries. NZ is on that list of countries, as are the UK, Ireland, Canada, and the US (two years training required for the US though); while Singapore, HK (China), and Malaysia, etc. are not. (Note that the other form of special "recognition" non-specialist Kiwis get is a high priority for internship placement in Australia). At any rate, you *still* have to show your internship satisfies Australian requirements (in particular, suitable terms in surgery, medicine, and emergency), and then do some workplace supervision/assessment to show competency. But if you can't demonstrate comparable internship terms, then you also have to apply for and complete such terms, which then subjects you to competition with local interns. But AMC candidates are down the internship ballot priority list, having been moved below that of int'l grads in some states (SA and Qld are two in particular). There may be a way to make up for a single deficient term
outside the ballot (directly with a hospital), but this is beyond my understanding of the process. The UK docs I know (who thus went the CAP route) spent about a year getting AMC accreditation and thus general registration (then they used that to apply for Permanent Residency, which is currently taking about 4 months to process even for fast-tracked visas because of the current political mess and backlog of boat people -- not a big issue (the wait, that is), but you need PR to apply to most training colleges or to do locum work). The moral of the CAP story is, make sure you've done the three core terms in your internship.
The route for all other countries -- and as I understand it, all countries around here other than NZ -- is the Standard Pathway, where you have to do the AMC examinations +/- clinical observation. This takes more money and typically more time, and in the meantime, you need a job, such as a supervised position akin to an internship term...
Now here's a peculiarity: the CAP doesn't distinguish between medical school and internship in deciding the acceptable countries (it sort of assumes you graduated from a foreign school AND did a foreign internship), while the Standard Pathway requires examination of pre-internship knowledge and skills (assuming you went to a foreign school, though in the future it may be practicable to do workplace assessment in lieu of the clinical exam).
So I'm not saying that you can't go to an Asian country and then come back to Australia. BUT, you'd be at a disadvantage relative to Kiwis, Irish, Brits, and American junior docs; and as the tsunami crest hits the PGY2 level, competition from locals will increasingly push out those who've done internship elsewhere, more so from non-CAP approved countries (though the crunch will never be as bad as at the internship level, because of accreditation processes, and the relative shortage of required internship terms, most notably Emergency).
As I see it, the only reason there's any controversy over all the int'l students Australian schools train, is that there just aren't enough internship places here once they're done. Arguments get stuck on this point: "Give int'ls spots, it's your responsibility"..."Um, we can't, there just aren't enough"..."Well then stop taking so many int'ls"...Well that isn't going to happen, so the argument goes nowhere. Isn't there an alternative that can at least help the situation?
What I would like to see is some special arrangements made with a few nearby nations such that internship alone can get easily and systematically recognized.
This would only work if the other country has the three required Australian terms (med, surg, ED), but otherwise, why not? The standards of, say, rich and advanced Singapore, are surely good enough that our grads should be able to go there, do an internship of suitable terms, and then be on equal (or nearly so) footing as other PGY2's here. Then any moral "obligation" is met, the schools can continue recruiting high-paying students, Australia gets more docs who are suitably trained, and some of these other countries would get the cheap junior doc labor they've said they want, with some staying on as they train up.
Anyway, I'd like to hear any solid evidence that any countries in our neighborhood are as recognized as NZ where general registration is concerned.
AMC routes:
http://www.amc.org.au/index.php/img
CAP route:
http://www.amc.org.au/index.php/img/ca
