The sector that includes some of our most vulnerable citizens was unprepared for the end of lockdowns: the Commonwealth is overwhelmingly to blame. (more…)
Category: Health
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How to learn from our Covid history (no, not with a royal commission)
What we have learnt from decades of experience about analysing what to do when things go wrong in healthcare should be applied to public health too.
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Omicron wave has exposed the battle lines of a new ‘ethics’ war
From my Omicron sickbed, I am watching my healthcare colleagues deal with a true disaster, writes Paul Komesaroff.
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A sense of mission required for the (eventual) post-Covid nation
We need a statesman to recognise the opportunity to renew health services after the disruptions of the pandemic. This is the second of two articles.
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Our post-pandemic healthcare system will need massive investment
Understaffed hospitals and care facilities, burgeoning surgery backlogs, insufficient medical graduates, rising mental health problems – the list of challenges ahead is formidable. (more…)
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Stormy seas for health sector: the Omicron wave is too damaging to ‘let it rip’
The policy retreat from virus suppression to virtually no control has placed the nation’s pathology industry, and health services overall, under crippling pressure. (more…)
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Living with Covid: lessons from the Spanish Flu pandemic
We are all sick of Covid and the disruption it has wrought. But the pandemic will not be over until it is over. Glib slogans won’t alter that reality.
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Omicron’s relentless spread demands a new response
The country is mired in a directionless mess and will continue to flounder without a new narrative and a policy response that emphasises protection.
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Another pandemic will come: have we learnt any lessons from this one?
The mistakes made during the Covid pandemic have been costly but provide an opportunity to ensure the nation is better prepared next time.
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Fools rush in: Morrison’s latest and worst Covid fiasco
What kind of fool am I? The government has made mistake after mistake on COVID. It was silly of me to assume it wouldn’t botch Omicron too. (more…)
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It’s not only us, Mr Morrison:the government must also play a part in fighting Covid
The pandemic has weaponised the argument that individual responsibility for one’s health is best – free from government edicts. This is pathetic.
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Health policy hazard: Covid is here to stay, so where is the plan?
It is a pipe dream to imagine that living with the variants will be seamless. This pandemic will be keep throwing up new challenges for a while yet.
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Act now to overcome the Commonwealth litany of failure on COVID
The Commonwealth has learned nothing from this litany of previous mistakes and continues to ignore lessons learnt from overseas. (more…)
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A curate’s egg: the many failures of Australia’s vaccine rollout
Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout was shemozzle. In the second part of a two-part article, Robin Boyle reviews where we failed.
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A curate’s egg: measuring the successes of Australia’s vaccine rollout
Against the odds, Australia’s vaccine rollout has been largely successful. In the first part of a two-part article, Robin Boyle reviews what worked.
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The price of inequality: vaccine nationalism and the Omicron variant
Australia’s ability to move on from the pandemic has been possible by hoarding vaccines and ignoring the vast majority of the world’s population.
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Australia’s splintered healthcare system is plagued by inequity
The reforms required to improve health outcomes are not controversial and are proven overseas — what is lacking here is the courage to tackle the systemic problems.
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Patient beware: many a medical practitioner is naught but a dodgy doctor
The ease with which the protections of Australians from healthcare fraud can be breached can only be described as disgraceful, writes John Dwyer.
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Front-line nurses, burnt-out or on the brink.
Pre-Covid, the healthcare system was already struggling. It’s time to invest in primary care and best practices to take that weight off nurses. (more…)
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Rich countries blamed for ‘avoidable’ new Covid variant
‘Allowing new variants to emerge and spread, 13 months into the vaccine era, is a policy choice by the rich world.’
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Omicron emerged because rich countries neglected global public health
Omicron shows that without global vaccine equity, COVID-19 will continue to mutate and spread around the world.
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Omicron is fuelled by our failure to mount a coordinated global response
The new Omicron coronavirus variant is a wakeup call on the need to fully vaccinate the world’s poorest nations, and our own children.
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Aged care advisory council needs strong nursing voices
Gobsmackingly, the new National Aged Care Advisory Council has been formed without any nursing groups represented.
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Biden urged to fight big pharma’s vaccine greed at key WTO meeting
Joe Biden must make sure those at WTO talks next week endorse a plan to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents to help end the pandemic.
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‘Obscene’: Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna rake in $5.4 million an hour
A few companies are making huge profits off COVID-19 vaccines while just 2 per cent of people in low-income countries have been fully vaccinated.
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Vaccination plus: A safe ticket to the great Aussie summer
For true freedom this summer, we’ll need more than vaccinations alone — public health safety is always a story of multiples.
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Our new Covid reality leaves the vulnerable living in fear
While many celebrate the economy opening up, it threatens to have a damaging impact on Aboriginal communities and on part-time and casual workers. (more…)
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Why Australia should be helping the least vaccinated nations like PNG
While Australia embarks on third booster shots, the vaccination rate in PNG is less than 2 per cent. What does that say about being a good neighbour?
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From zero to acceptable risk: funeral rites for Covid zero
The ambitious target of eradication has been eradicated. In its place, a small target strategy. Authorities are grappling with the new reality.
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After lockdown: can marvellous Melbourne ever be the same?
A sense of achievement is mixed with a sense of utter loss. Australia’s most liveable city has emerged proud and unbowed from its sixth lockdown, but signs of the damage are not hard to find. (more…)