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Australia's chief medical officer is defending the handling of the 2009 swine flu pandemic after calls for a new centre for disease control to be set up to better manage such outbreaks.
An infectious diseases conference in Canberra has heard Australia is the only developed country in the world without a separate agency for disease control.
A Public Health Association Australia (PHAA) discussion paper, presented at its three-day conference, argues a new agency is needed to overcome the "lack of national capacity to address communicable disease issues in a strategic manner".
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But Jim Bishop, who will stand down as the country's top doctor in May, says Australia handled the swine flu pandemic well.
He rejected suggestions the response of health authorities was disjointed.
"I don't think it was disjointed at all," Prof Bishop told the conference.
"Our outcomes, compared to Canada and the United Kingdom, and Argentina and Chile when the epidemic was in the southern hemisphere, I think you'd have to say Australia stands up very well.
"Our population fared well, we lost fewer people in intensive care than many comparable countries and had many less hospitalisations."
There were 213 deaths related to swine flu in Australia.
...
An infectious diseases conference in Canberra has heard Australia is the only developed country in the world without a separate agency for disease control.
A Public Health Association Australia (PHAA) discussion paper, presented at its three-day conference, argues a new agency is needed to overcome the "lack of national capacity to address communicable disease issues in a strategic manner".
Advertisement: Story continues below
But Jim Bishop, who will stand down as the country's top doctor in May, says Australia handled the swine flu pandemic well.
He rejected suggestions the response of health authorities was disjointed.
"I don't think it was disjointed at all," Prof Bishop told the conference.
"Our outcomes, compared to Canada and the United Kingdom, and Argentina and Chile when the epidemic was in the southern hemisphere, I think you'd have to say Australia stands up very well.
"Our population fared well, we lost fewer people in intensive care than many comparable countries and had many less hospitalisations."
There were 213 deaths related to swine flu in Australia.
...
