Fears Qld cardiac service could collapse if doctor recruitment rules don't change

Hermann Wittmer should be contemplating his retirement but instead he is losing sleep over the future of the cardiac patients he has dedicated his career to saving. Key points: Cardiologists fear red tape and a shortage of Australian-trained doctors could see regional cardiac services collapse Data used to determine where foreign-trained doctors are needed is stopping them from recruiting replacements There are calls for the federal government to urgently grant an exemption A single rule, determined by Medicare data, is stopping Dr Wittmer, 65, from hiring a replacement to treat the "thousands of patients that need to be seen" at his Queensland practice in Bundaberg. The data shows the Wide Bay region bills enough cardiac Medicare services to equal 8.3 full-time service equivalent specialists per 100,000 people, which is above the national average of 5.5 FSE. Urgent intervention needed Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service chief operating officer Ben Ross-Edwards said the state-government-run service fully supported a DWS exemption for cardiology positions. Willing doctors turned away Two cardiologists — Pavan Thaneeru and Dr Ahmed Zakariyya — left the Wide Bay in 2021 after multiple formal requests to stay beyond six months were denied.