Australia and Canada’s leading rural doctor bodies have signed up for creating further collaborative opportunities.
The peak rural health bodies for Australia and Canada have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding, opening the door for the further collaboration in the future.
The memorandum was officially signed off last Friday at the Rural Medicine 25 conference in Perth by the outgoing presidents of both organisations, Dr RT Lewandowski for the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, and Dr Gavin Parker for the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada.
“I am truly excited to have … formalised an already very productive relationship between our two organisations, in one of my last duties as RDAA President,” Dr Lewandowski said.
“Despite the physical distance between our countries, RDAA and the SRPC are closely aligned in our philosophies, in our approaches to policy and advocacy with our respective governments, and in the rural and remote healthcare challenges that our members and their communities face.
“Our countries have significant similarities in terms of geographical challenges due to the remoteness of healthcare settings, similar health policy and funding models, and similar challenges in training and recruiting more health professionals to work in our rural, remote and Indigenous communities – so it will be very beneficial for us to share ideas and solutions on all of these challenges.”
Numerous benefits are expected to come from this collaboration with free reciprocal “associate” memberships now being offered to current or joining members of the RDAA.
This allows members access to a plethora of collaborative benefits such as access to participate in each other’s Special Interest Groups, receive policy updates, and discounted registration to each other’s national conferences.
Speaking opportunities are also going to be available with meetings planned for both organisations’ conferences to discuss shared goals and opportunities for improvement.
The MoU comes after an increased flow of both Australian and Canadian rural doctors and medical students attending each nation’s conferences.
“Following what has been a close relationship between our organisations over many years, we are delighted to now be formalising that relationship with our Australian colleagues and friends through this landmark MoU,” said Dr Parker.
“We’re excited to build on the many strengths shared by our rural and remote health communities in Canada and Australia.
“While our settings present unique challenges, they also inspire innovation, resilience, and a deep sense of purpose.
“Through this collaboration, we look forward to learning from one another, celebrating what’s working well, and building on those successes to strengthen rural medicine in both our countries.
“To see this come to fruition is very rewarding.”
