Victoria’s healthcare services are being boosted by the recruitment of hundreds of doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals from overseas, announced state premier Daniel Andrews this weekend.

Mr Andrews who visited the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne with minister of health Mary-Anne Thomas on Sunday, said that over the past year nearly 700 overseas healthcare workers had arrived in Victoria from Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, New Zealand, Philippines and the United States. He said one in five worked in regional areas of the state.

He said the additional healthcare workers had helped add to the 8,500 who joined during the pandemic with a total of 22,000 who had joined the healthcare workforce in the state since 2014, the year Mr Andrews came to power.

The re-opening of international borders had seen interest from other countries continuing to grow.

Almost 200 of the new arrivals had accessed the government travel allowance scheme to help with relocation costs of up to $10,000 for moving to a metropolitan area and $13,000 for regional areas.

“Our health system continues to see record demand and our recruitment blitz is making a big difference on the ground, helping provide the timely, world-class care that every Victorian deserves.” “Mr Andrews said.

Ms Thomas said: “Attracting new talent and retaining our existing workforce is central to our Pandemic Repair Plan – each and every worker is playing a critical role in getting the health system back on track after a really challenging few years.”