Two-time Gold Logie winner Hamish Blake has found himself in hot water after comments made on the Hamish and Andy podcast.
The TV presenter and comedian joked last week that he could competently work in general practice medicine for a day. “I do a lot of Googling medical issues, and I have got now 20 years’ experience of going to the GP,” he mused on the Hamish and Andy podcast.
Hamish qualified the statement, acknowledging his respect for general practitioners and clarifying that “they’re very good at what they do and do need to go to medical school”. However, it was too little too late for many members of the medical community who felt the joke fell flat.
Greens MP and former general practitioner Amanda Cohn called Hamish out for punching down on an exhausted, undervalued and essential workforce during a national GP shortage. “The perception that GPs are somehow lesser doctors is widespread. GPs know more about gynaecology than cardiologists, more about cardiology than orthopaedic surgeons, and more about orthopaedics than psychiatrists,” she said in an address to parliament on Wednesday.
Upper house MPs later agreed to Dr Cohn’s motion that dubbed Blake’s comments “as ridiculous as thinking that being a frequent flyer equips you with the skills to fly an aircraft”.
Another disgruntled GP, Dr Mariam Tokhi, appealed to Blake, offering for him to spend the day with her in her clinic to see first-hand the complexity of the work. “See if you can differentiate between a good neck lump and a bad one? See if you can get a suicidal teen to open up? Is that vertigo, Meniere’s, a virus, or a stroke? Can you support someone after they’ve been given a diagnosis of dementia?” she said.
Tokhi called Hamish out for disrespecting an industry already struggling to stay alive. “Our primary care system is seriously flailing. It’s been underfunded and under-resourced for years. We’re fighting for good, community-based care when you need it. Celebrities, politicians, journalists, please stop running us down. Ask for a stronger Medicare. Help us help you,” Tokhi said.
Backlash extended past the GP community, with many social media users calling Blake “foolish and privileged” and jumping to the defence of general medical professionals. “Being an excellent GP is the hardest job in medicine. Sorting the medicine into the serious needing action from the routine, and doing this in all specialities,” one X (formerly Twitter) user said.
