FED: Doctors to be paid to spend time with depressed paitents

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-1999
FED: Doctors to be paid to spend time with depressed paitents

SYDNEY, Dec 6 AAP - Doctors will be paid to spend more time with depressed patients
under a federal government plan to combat the emergence of depression as the nation's
biggest health issue.

Federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge told The Australian that problems of depression
had been overlooked in the past but would become a main focus of the national strategy
to deal with mental illness.

Dr Wooldridge said the first national depression action plan, to be released in March
or April, would include an extensive publicity campaign to improve the nation's mental
health literacy, and extra payments for doctors to allow for longer consultations.

Clinical depression costs the nation $5 billion a year, The Australian reported.

It strikes one in 17 adults each year, usually occurring first in adolescence and often
recurring throughout life.

AAP jo/ao

KEYWORD: DEPRESSION

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