Chief medico defends swine flu response

The federal chief medical officer has defended the national response to swine flu
after stinging criticism from a Melbourne doctor.
Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop said the national response to the virus
was "appropriate, proportionate and successful".
His defence comes after Melbourne doctor Peter Eizenberg said deficiencies in the
implementation of the national pandemic plan made the role of frontline doctors
"extremely difficult".
In an article in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) on Thursday, he said doctors
did not receive personal protective equipment fast enough, test results were delayed
by up to three weeks and communication about government policy changes was unclear.
"It is only due to the low virulence of the virus that this pandemic has merely
stressed our local service delivery and not completely paralysed both our and the
statewide response," the report says.
But Professor Bishop said many GP divisions had put considerable time and effort
into their own pandemic planning.
"I personally have had continual contact with doctors and medical associations since
the outbreak began," Prof Bishop said in a statement.
"I have sent letters to GPs, held roundtables with peak GP organisations, there is a
special health professionals page on the healthemergency website and we share
information with medical associations and colleges on a regular basis."
From very early on, state and territory health departments worked closely with GP
organisations to ensure primary care providers were prepared and equipped to manage
the virus, he said.
He added that the government had provided $4 million to the Australian General
Practice Network to work in partnership with the Royal Australian College of General
Practitioners (RACGP).
However, he acknowledged that doctors, especially GPs, were "bearing the brunt" of
the disease and had to keep up with new testing and antivirals policies as they
changed from "contain" phase to "protect" phase.
The government had released more masks and gloves from the national medical
stockpile as quickly as possible, he said.
He also defended the extensive use of antivirals, saying it helped keep the
infection contained for much longer than "would otherwise be".
"Clearly the new pandemic phase protect, developed with GPs and others, was
proportionate and appropriate with an unprecedented level of national coordination
and cooperation," Prof Bishop said.