Streaky Bay is at the forefront of a national crisis: inadequate government funding is exacerbating a shortage of critical healthcare workers like Dr Bradley; wait times are ballooning; doctors are beginning to write their own rules on fees, and costs to patients are skyrocketing.
A once-revered universal healthcare system is crumbling at every level, sometimes barely getting by on the sheer willpower of doctors and local communities.
As a result, more and more Australians, regardless of where they live, are delaying or going without the care they need.
On the whole, they’re used to East Asian health professionals, and some even deliberately seek East Asian doctors.
They do NOT like South East Asian HCWs, but will tolerate it. There are regular requests in community groups for an ‘Australian’ doctor, and whilst there is plenty of pushback from commenters about what makes a doctor Australian, they tend to say they have issues with the accent (not overly unwarranted, I have an Australian accent but can speak fast, and this is probably the most common feedback I get).
There are a bigoted few who will actually refuse to see Aboriginal clinicians.
I respect the accent thing, that’s completely fair as communication is key.
It’s something that tends to pass over time, but the shock at first is often severe, or at least it was in the US.