AUSTRALIA (Nov 16)— DOCTORS are defying the State Government's ban on cosmetic surgery in public hospitals. Plastic surgery unit head Dr Phil Griffin said it was "business as usual" at Flinders Medical Centre, despite an immediate ban imposed by the Government on a range of cosmetic procedures. On Monday, Health Minister John Hill announced an end to cosmetic circumcisions, nose, ear, face, breast and abdomen surgery.

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JILL PENGELLEY, HEALTH REPORTER

November 16, 2007 01:15am

DOCTORS are defying the State Government's ban on cosmetic surgery in public hospitals.

Plastic surgery unit head Dr Phil Griffin said it was "business as usual" at Flinders Medical Centre, despite an immediate ban imposed by the Government on a range of cosmetic procedures.

On Monday, Health Minister John Hill announced an end to cosmetic circumcisions, nose, ear, face, breast and abdomen surgery.

Anyone without an appointment by November 5 would not get one unless the procedure were required on medical grounds.

"I'm not going to comply with that," Dr Griffin said yesterday.

He said if a procedure turned out to be "purely cosmetic" it would not be performed but he would encourage GPs to continue to refer patients.

In the case of "bat ears", as the Health Department called them, patients aged 16 or more would not qualify for free surgery.

Dr Griffin said it was "outrageous" that anyone over 16 could not have their prominent ears corrected.
"They reach an age of consent and the Government says `No, you have to pay for it'. They're not going to have the money to pay for it. How is that just?

"I find it really peculiar that we've got a Labor Government that's not looking after poor people."

He said many of the banned procedures had Medicare item numbers.

"We have this strange situation where the Commonwealth says these are rightfully Medicare operations and the State has signed a contract to provide Medicare operations but is now saying they don't want to.

"They do have a Medicare item number so they shouldn't be excluded."

Queen Elizabeth Hospital's plastic and reconstructive surgery unit head, Dr Tim Proudman, said it was a "bizarre decision" by the Government and his unit would continue to accept referrals.

SA Society of Plastic Surgeons state president Dr Richard Harries said the new policy would "dramatically reduce" surgery waiting lists but surgical registrars would have trouble completing their training in plastics because of the lack of cosmetic work in the public system.

Mr Hill said he thought the new policy had been misunderstood.

"People will always get plastic surgery which is based on medical need and that includes psychological need, in public hospitals," he said. "The head of the Department of Health, Dr Tony Sherbon, will write to all doctors impacted by the policy to make this clear.