CareFlight welcomes its first all-female doctor team

The charity employs new registrars twice a year as part of a training programme with the Top End Medical Retrieval Service. This year, CareFlight welcomes an all-female team from all over the world.

Jodie Martin, CareFlight Clinical Nurse Consultant in Education and Training, said: “In recent years, female doctors in different medical fields have started outnumbering their male colleagues for the first time in Australia. Fast-forward to today and CareFlight has onboarded its first ever all-women registrar team. Overall, the ranks of female medical graduates are swelling and that’s fantastic.”

The seven new registrars have worked in emergency departments, anaesthetics and intensive care units all over the world, including Australia, Ireland, the UK, Africa and Denmark.

During the six-month training programme, the registrars learn how to care for patients in pre-hospital and inter-hospital aeromedical retrieval environments, as well as rural and remote locations.

Dr Naomi Abdallah, one of the new registrars, said: “The work is incredibly rewarding and exciting, but working in retrieval as a mother of a two-year-old boy is challenging. Retrieval involves erratic shifts and long hours, but I’m lucky to have a husband who understands that and supports me by picking up the pieces.”

Martin added: “This year, the theme for International Women's Day is ‘I am Generation Equality: Realising Women's Rights’ – and I think we can certainly celebrate that here at CareFlight.”