Australian Doctor

23/02/2026

A paediatric gender clinic that described itself as “gold standard” has been savaged in a damning report that found it was offering walk-in appointments to children without specialist referrals and prescribing puberty blockers in the absence of appropriate clinical assessment.

The review into the Cairns Sexual Health Service was launched in January 2025.

23/02/2026

As the Federal Government drags its heels on adding respiratory syncytial virus vaccines to the national schedule for older people, another state has decided to go it alone.

WA becomes the second state to start offering aged care residents the vaccine, in line with PBAC recommendations.

21/02/2026

A Turkish man’s rare reaction to psoriasis treatment has left doctors scratching their heads.

Not only did the psoriasis drugs fail to work, they made the patient worse.

20/02/2026

The Medical Board of Australia has opened an IMG fast track for paediatricians and general physicians as the number of IMGs working in Australia via the expedited specialist pathways hits 501.

The RACGP says only 17 of 441 GP IMGs have applied so far for its exam-free fast-tracked fellowship.

20/02/2026

A publicly listed US telehealth company with a $3.6 billion market cap will pay $1.6 billion for Eucalyptus, the Australian company behind telehealth sites Juniper and Pilot.

Eucalyptus and Hims & Hers have been winners in the GLP-1 receptor agonist boom.

20/02/2026

A founding member of ACRRM who claimed his locum job was cancelled because he was considered too old, has lost his $2 million age discrimination claim.

However, Dr Peter Chilcott's locum contract was cancelled because he abused staff, an industrial relations commission found.

19/02/2026

Tensions at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians have once again exploded.

Its president-elect, Dr Sharmila Chandran, broke from the board last week and emailed the college’s 33,000 members, alleging dysfunction and bullying within the organisation.

It is the second time Dr Sharmila Chandran has emailed members personally to condemn the board.

19/02/2026

Psychiatrists have drawn up new schizophrenia management guidelines that would, if endorsed, mark the first Australasian update in a decade.

There is still 'a lot we don't know' about the complex disorder, Queensland psychiatrist Professor Shuichi Suetani says.

19/02/2026

Opportunistic bilateral salpingectomy reduces the risk of serous ovarian cancer by more than 75% compared with hysterectomy or tubal ligation, research suggests.

23% of ovarian carcinomas in patients without fallopian tubes were high-grade serous carcinomas compared with 68% in patients with fallopian tubes.

18/02/2026

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has stopped funding high-tetrahydrocannabinol cannabis for new patients, in response to what it said were concerning prescribing habits that prioritised profit over wellbeing and put veterans at risk.

18/02/2026

A landmark statement on managing premenopausal women with suspected acute coronary syndrome has called for a low threshold for invasive angiography in patients with significant risk factors, including pregnant women.

Advances in understanding MINOCA and SCAD are making it clear that younger women are disproportionately affected.

18/02/2026

A class action by four US academics accusing scientific publishing giants of conspiring not to pay peer reviewers has been dismissed by a New York District Court judge.

Judge Hector Gonzalez said the agreement was not binding, merely a set of guidelines, and was therefore not anti-competitive.