Refugee Doctors in Australia: Experiences in Seeking to Obtain Legal Entitlement to Practise Medicine

Abstract Medical practitioners are among the people with a refugee or asylum seeker background to whom Australia has granted sanctuary. Yet, as the media has reported, refugee doctors (as we refer to them for convenience in this article) are often employed in low-skilled roles, rather than continuing their medical careers in Australia. Provided it is established that they are safe and competent to practise medicine, it would benefit refugee doctors, but also the community if they obtain legal entitlement to do so; Australia is presently facing major shortages of medical practitioners in certain geographical locations and fields of practice. The researchers in this study conducted semi-structured interviews with ten refugee doctors to explore their experiences in navigating the pathways for international medical graduates (‘IMGs’) to attain registration to practise medicine from the Medical Board of Australia. The study identified that refugee doctors encounter substantial challenges in this regard. A comparative analysis of the findings of this study with those of previous research reveals that, while IMGs frequently face barriers, certain obstacles appear to be unique to refugee doctors’ experiences. This article recommends specific reforms to address them.