In the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget in May 2023, Australian Health Journal reached out to peak health industry bodies to hear about their priorities, either noted in pre-budget submissions lodged with Federal Government in January 2023 or in recent forums such as the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.
Others have stated their priorities directly with Federal Government. Through these interviews, AHJ gives a final opportunity to communicate to all health stakeholders, the funding needs for a range of priorities. These range from new models of care to pilots and wholesale, system improvements to building more sustainable workforces to help grow certain sectors of the health system
The CEO of Research Australia, Nadia Levin spoke with Australian Health Journal about the following:
- Current medical research and development landscape in Australia
- Investment required to support the Health and Medical Research and Innovation pipeline
- The National Medical Products Industry Plan and its impact on the Australian economy
And lastly Nadia looks at the challenges of the health and medical research sector. In recent years a survey on early and mid-stage researchers by Research Australia, showed 2 out of every 3 were reconsidering a career in research. The workforce of the future will need to look at the role of the human and medical researcher, knowing innovation does exist and will need to continue to change Australia lives (including an ageing population), and deliver new economies of the future.
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Mission to raise awareness of sarcoma and need for clinical trial funding
Sarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, remains the deadliest cancer for children and young adults, accounting for nearly one third (30%) of cancer-related deaths among those aged 15–24 and one tenth (10%) of those aged 0–14. Further, still severely under-diagnosed, sarcoma only accounts for one sixth (15%) of all cancer diagnoses in the 15 – 24 age group, and less than a tenth (8%) among children under 10.
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Career advice from an Emergency Physician in Research
Associate Professor Viet Tran, an experienced emergency physician at the Royal Hobart Hospital. He spoke with Australian Health Journal about the crucial role of emergency departments as the frontline of hospitals, providing immediate care, diagnosis, resuscitation, and serving as a safety net for the healthcare system. Prof. Tran highlights the importance of understanding the daily responsibilities and core aspects of a specialty when choosing a medical career.
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Dentist creates app to democratise oral health care
In this People In Health Care segment, Dr Gadiyar spoke to Australian Health Journal on how she hopes the app will help increase the number of people seeking dental treatment from the current 47% level in Australia. To date, 120,000 users have downloaded the app with more than 50 dental practices signed up with Smilo.ai to receive individual enquiries or seek dental treatment.
