No Second Opinions

Picture: AMA

Australia’s leading medical adviser in this crisis is perfectly qualified to deal with it. We should heed his advice. By Tim James.

As COVID-19 dominates policy discussions, it’s timely to focus on who is advising the Government’s health policy and how the community should fight this pandemic.  

Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy has one of the most important jobs in the country right now. He attends national Cabinet meetings, fronts the media alongside the Prime Minster, and cops his share of criticism.

Professor Murphy has dedicated his life to human health. He’s a clinical professor, specialist nephrologist (kidney health) and former president of the specialist body in his field. He’s no career bureaucrat, having been the CEO of Austin Health in Victoria, chief medical officer at St Vincent’s Health and director of numerous medical research bodies. He has been Australia’s Chief Medical Officer since 2016, represents Australia at the World Health Assembly and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

In January, it was announced he will be the next secretary of the Department of Health, the first clinician to hold that title. The AMA called it an “inspired choice”.  

He’s the most senior medical official in the Australian Government and has earned the respect of, among others, the Prime Minister.

But he doesn’t work alone. He chairs the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, which consists of all the state and territory Chief Health Officers, and has been central to the national response to the crisis. 

COVID-19: Read the MRC’s coverage of the debate and policy proposals here

Yet remarkably there are still Australians who, basing their information on Tweets and Facebook videos, think they know more than he does. These people don’t have access to the data, global knowledge and real-time results available to Professor Murphy. They reinterpret the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza, which was recently updated.  

Lock us down now, they cry. You’re doing this all wrong, they claim.

The Public Health Association of Australia responded this week by asking its professional health worker members to reinforce the advice of Professor Murphy and dispute the “alternative sources claiming authority”.

In an email to members this week, the PHAA said that in bushfires people don’t second guess the advice of the chief fire and emergency services commissioner, so “in times of public health emergency, we should not be second-guessing the Chief Medical Officer”. 

AMA President Tony Bartone was even more direct. "Everyone wants to be an expert. Let the evidence and the leaders speak for themselves,” he said this week.

Freedom of speech is always essential but so too is people listening to leaders, affording them respect, pulling together for common purpose and striving to serve the country’s best interests. We should retain our autonomy as much as possible during this crisis, but to do so we must also base our decisions on the best information, not the flakiest.

Armchair experts on social media are no alternative to the Chief Medical Officer. This crisis will be easier to deal with if we heed the advice of those who have dedicated their lives to solving problems like this one.