Pharmacy Daily | Call for COAG to stay

THE Consumers Health Forum (CHF) and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) of Australia have called for the retention of the Council of Australian Government (COAG) Reform Council following its report on healthcare reform over the past five years (PD 13 Jun). Disbanding COAG would remove an important independent body able to provide an authoritative report card on the health system, CHF ceo Adam Stankevicius said. “These insights into the state of the health system provide important measures by which consumers, practitioners and governments can judge performance and work for improvements. “To stop the publication of these details would be a triumph of the bean counters over properly informed voters.” AMA president Associate Professor Brian Owler said he had significant concerns about the Reform Council’s abolition. The information was needed to drive health policy in the future, such as a national strategy around obesity, he said. “The National Preventative Healthcare Agency has also been abolished. “What is going to fill the void that’s going to be left when these agencies are abolished?”

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