FED: Govt flu plan under threat if insurers don't cover doctors
Fri Aug 28 04:10:50 EST 2009
Thu Aug 27 18:10:50 UTC 2009
Subject: [Fwd: FED: Govt flu plan under threat if insurers don't cover doctors] name="FED: Govt flu plan under threat if insurers don't cover doctors.eml" filename*0="FED: Govt flu plan under threat if insurers don't cover doct"; Subject: FED: Govt flu plan under threat if insurers don't cover doctors FED: Govt flu plan under threat if insurers don't cover doctors
SYDNEY, Aug 28 AAP - The federal government's plan to immunise the population against swine flu is under threat because insurers may not cover doctors who administer the injections.
Insurers say inadequate testing and the possibility of spreading infections means there is too high a risk that patients will sue, Fairfax newspapers report.
The government has refused to underwrite doctors' liability for the vaccinations.
Medical groups say the program, due to start as early as mid-September, cannot proceed unless doctors are insured.
Australian Medical Association President Andrew Pesce, said: "The indemnity issue needs to be sorted out or else the vaccination program won't go ahead."
"In the environment we're in, someone has to be held accountable for rare vaccine reactions that may occur," he said.
"If the government decides there is a priority need to roll out the vaccine, then it has a duty to indemnify the doctors who provide it."
Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced in May an order with vaccine supplier CSL for 21 million doses - enough to protect at least half the population from the flu strain.
Medical defence organisations MDA National Insurance and Avant Mutual Group said they were still considering whether to indemnify members who gave patients the vaccinations, Fairfax reports.
The head of clinical research at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance at the University of Sydney, Robert Booy, said the insurers' arguments were superficial and proper training of clinicians would virtually eliminate infection risk.
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FED: Govt flu plan under threat if insurers don't cover doctors