Foreign doctors could avoid Australia because of the way the case of Mohameed Haneef, an Indian physician charged over the failed UK terror plot, has been handled, according to the Australian Medical Association.
Australians must separate the allegations against Haneef from his profession, AMA President Rosanna Capolingua said.
"There seems to be a thought that doctors from overseas won't want to come to Australia looking at the Haneef issue because they don't want to be a part of this," Capolingua was quoted in The Australian as saying.
"We have to remember that this is not about doctors. This is about a particular situation around an individual who happens to be a doctor," she said, adding "it would be very sad to see doctors dissuaded from coming here, because this is not about doctors."
Australia's medical sector would struggle without the input of foreign doctors, Capolingua said. "Of our total medical workforce, 30 to 40 per cent are international medical graduates and in some cases they have been in Australia for 10, 20, 30 years."
"Three thousand to 4,000 doctors are here on visas, so they are temporary residents and many are working in rural and regional areas," she said. "They are no different to any other doctor as far as patient care is concerned and we are very dependent on them."
Haneef, who was working as a Registrar at a Gold Coast Hospital, has been charged with "recklessly" providing support to a terrorist organisation in connection with the failed car bomb attacks in Britain last month.