Local News

The Greens have proposed that gambling addicts be given Naltrexone, the same medication as alcoholics and heroin addicts, to help problem gamblers resist the urge to punt, but the Coalition is opposing the plan.

Greens Senator Dr Richard Di Natale said that there were a growing number of small studies that found Naltrexone efficient in reducing addiction, and proposed a trial of the drug for gambling addicts.

More than 20,000 people who have called the new GP after-hours helpline since it started last July have been directed away from hospital emergency departments or GP after-hours services, the Federal Government says.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said this represents a 44 per cent reduction in the need for face to face medical consultations for people using the after-hours helpline.

Doctors and other mental health professionals are just as likely as anyone else in the population to attach stigma to mental health patients, a new study shows.

The study, by the Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA), found that the levels of stigma experienced by mental health consumers seeking treatment from mental health and other health professionals are similar to levels of stigma reported in the general population.

Andrew Wakefield, the British doctor who was struck off the medical register for issues surrounding his research claiming a link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) is suing the editor-in–chief of the British Medical Journal for defamation.

Wakefield, who now lives and works in Austin, Texas, is also suing BMJ investigative journalist Brian Deer.

Australian women with breast implants have been advised to speak with their surgeon or GP to find out whether they have been fitted with a Poly Implant Proethese, or PIP, which has been recalled worldwide after overseas health authorities found some contained industrial silicone instead of medical silicone.

The Australian Medical Association’s first Secretary General, Dr John George Hunter, led a notable life, not only for his contribution to medicine, but he was also chief biologist on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Douglas Mawson.

Dr Hunter’s family has recently published the diary he kept of his experiences as chief biologist to coincide with the centenary celebrations of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition.