The physician's college is now scrambling to stabilise after a week of resignations and leadership tussles.
The RACP president is reportedly encouraging members to call an Extraordinary General Meeting and finalise the discussion on board membership and governance issues for good.
An extraordinary general meeting can be called by the board if requests from at least 100 members are received.
The situation began last week, when the RACP board passed a vote of no confidence in the president-elect Dr Sharmila Chandran with board members threatening resignation if she were to take up the role next May.
Six out of the 10 board members resigned amid the drama, with three former directors being reinstated to try restore the functionality of the board, per The Australian.
As reported in Australian Doctor, RACP president Professor Jennifer Martin has now told members that the college has “self-reported” to four different regulators, including ASIC, the Australian Medical Council and the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
“We will work fully with them to ensure that the [college] is operating effectively and within the law,” Professor Martin said.
“This may require administrators and new elections.”
Remaining board members made a statement earlier this week outlining the reasoning behind the lack of confidence in the member-back president elect.
“The issues are not about disagreement on policy,” the email, which has been posted to Reddit, read.
“The president-elect has engaged in adversarial and disrespectful behaviour, contributed to a toxic culture that has led to the early departure of directors and diverted significant time and resources away from the College’s core purpose and reform agenda.”
Keeping on track with reform has been a college-wide ambition to maintain the medical body’s relevancy after recent government legislation.
After the introduction of said legislation, college membership is now no longer required for many specialists, bringing the RACP’s $2100 yearly membership fees into question.
Professor Martin has since elaborated on the push stating that the roles of doctors do not translate well to college governance.
“I’ve learned this lesson up close,” Professor Martin told The Limbic.
“Doctors are trained to diagnose and heal, not to govern large, complex organisations responsible for training and safeguarding the profession.
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“If surgeons and GPs can modernise their governance, physicians cannot continue to cling to outdated structures.”
Dr Chandran has also made a statement, arguing that the college presidency should still reside in someone voted in by the members.
“I represent the true membership of this college and I’m very proud of that,” Dr Chandran told the Australian.
“There’s every shade, every culture out there.
“I represent the struggles they have gone through, I speak their language, and the entire membership is behind me.”
A bullying claim with Fair Work Australia was also lodged by Dr Chandran after the board insisted that the no-confidence vote was not about policy but about conduct.
“Members see this as a push to destroy the vote,” Dr Chandran said to the Australian.
“I keep pushing for changes because I know that when it all comes out in the open, members will stand by me.”
