The Australian year. A comparison of health care systems in France and Australia.

At a time when French surgery is in crisis, it is interesting to comparetwo health care systems, two different organizations. A studywas made of two positions: one a full professor of surgery at thedepartment of surgery at the University of Adelaide; the other, asurgical consultant at the Royal Adelaide hospital, the Queen ElisabethHospital, and the Flinders Medical Center. One week permonth surgery was practised in the “outback” in the hospitals atWhyalla and at Port Augusta.Two kinds of surgery were practiced: 1. Academic surgery at theUniversity of Adelaide, primarily liver and oesophageal surgery. 2.Outback surgery; this was primarily general and urgent surgerywithin a radius of about 1000 kilometers around the hospitals atWhyalla and Port Augusta. Academic work was performed bygiving lectures in 14 grand rounds and at 3 Australian congresseson a variety of topics in digestive surgery. Follow-up tutorials weregiven to residents. The research appeared in nine publications andone editorial. An emergency manual was published for all interns.A comparison was made of health care in private and public hospitals,with considerable importance given to private insurance. Inconclusion, this study was important and useful. If the teaching andtraining of medical students and interns is excellent, classical frenchorganisation deserves being favored.