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1. Does Médecins Sans Frontières organise
events where I might be able to find out more information and talk to
field field workers?
Médecins Sans Frontières frequently holds recruitment
information evenings in various cities around Australia and New Zealand,
which includes information about our work and provides an opportunity
to ask questions about field work.
If you are interested in attending such an evening, please click
here.
2. Do you have positions on missions for trainees?
Do you have positions for medical students doing an elective?
No, unfortunately the conditions encountered on field missions demand
the full attention of the teams, and they do not have the time to supervise,
monitor and assess trainees and students.
3. Can someone go on a field mission at his or her
own expense as a general helper/assistant? Can someone who happens to
be travelling in the area in which a mission is working stop off and visit
or perhaps lend a hand for a week or two?
No, the professional teams we send to the field cannot accommodate
observers, untrained helpers or others who lack the qualifications and
experience to be full participants in the work of the mission.
4. Do you run any training courses that those considering
applying to go on field missions can take before applying?
Médecins Sans Frontières runs pre-departure training
courses for those already selected to go on a field mission and about
to depart. It does not itself run any training courses that can be taken
by intending applicants.
5. Do you recommend any university or other courses
that intending applicants can take to improve the likelihood of being
selected?
James Cook University in Townsville runs a Masters of Public Health
and Tropical Medicine program. Within this, there is a course on refugee
health (which can be taken separately) which Médecins Sans Frontières
coordinates in conjunction with the university. But many other universities
also run courses that would help to equip someone to work in the field
with Médecins Sans Frontières.
6. Is there an upper age limit for field field workers?
No, Médecins Sans Frontières does not discriminate on
the grounds of age. However, field workers do need to have the physical and
mental fitness to cope with the demanding conditions that may be encountered
on a field mission.
7. Can I still apply if I have not worked in my profession
for several years?
While there is no rigid limit, a candidate’s chances of selection
decrease markedly if they have not worked in their profession within the
last three or four years.
8. Médecins Sans Frontières requires
at least two years’ professional experience: for specialists, does
this mean two years since they qualified as a doctor, or two years since
they qualified in the particular speciality?
The two-year minimum relates to the field position they would fill.
Normally those qualified as specialists seek to work with Médecins
Sans Frontières in the area of their specialty, in which case the
requirement is for two years’ experience in that specialty.
However, occasionally, a specialist is willing to fill a more general
position. For example, a neurosurgeon might be willing to work as a general
surgeon on a field mission, or a paediatrician to fill a GP position.
In such cases, the two years would relate to their more basic qualification.
But the requirement is for recent experience. Someone who has worked as
a specialist for many years may not, for example, have any recent experience
as a GP.
If the application of these general rules is unclear, we ask that intending
applicants send us their CV, so we can advise based on the specifics of
their qualifications and experience.
9. Can I have my time with MSF in the field accredited
to my post graduate medical specialist training?
Yes there is provision for time in the field to be accredited to your
medical specialist training. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
and the Royal Australian College of Physicians accredit time in the field
under certain situations and criteria. For further information contact
the relevant college.
10. Can I apply if I am only available for less
than nine months?
We find that people need at least nine months (particularly for their
first time in the field) to contribute to the community they are working
in and to gain just as much back for themselves. In the case of Surgeons
and Anaesthethists the minimum duration of a mission can be much shorter
(6 to 8 weeks) but for Finance/Administrative staff contracts can be
longer (12 months). These different mission lengths correspond to the
specifics of the field work and to the location were these staff are
to be based.
11. Skills in which foreign language(s) are most
highly valued by Médecins Sans Frontières in recruiting
for field missions?
Fluency in the language, or one of the languages, used by the population
where a particular field mission is situated is obviously most useful.
The main languages used internally within Médecins Sans Frontières
are French, English and Spanish.
12. Does it improve an applicant’s chances
if they have worked in a remote Indigenous community?
Yes.
13. How long does the recruitment process take?
How long before the date I am available to depart should I apply?
It is best to allow for as much time as possible before you can go
to the field. You should leave at least six weeks for recruitment, sometimes
it will be longer and sometimes shorter. Most interviews take place in
the office in Sydney but the recruiting officer also makes trips to most
major Australian cities and to New Zealand once or twice a year and interviews
can be carried out at this time. If your circumstances change after you
have applied, you can change your availability date but it is better not
to delay it too long if you have been recruited.
14. Can I go on mission with my partner?
Unfortunately, MSF whether as dependent or in a professional capacity
does not send couples to the field. The security and specifically difficult
contexts in which MSF works does not allow for dependents to go along
or to join at any time of a field worker mission. It is also almost impossible
for MSF to place 2 professionals as a couple in the same project in the
same country and at the same time.
It has happened in exceptional cases, but it has been accepted by the
applicants at the recruitment stage that this is MSF's policy and no conditions
for placement have been assumed.
MSF understand that this policy can be very disapointing for committed
individuals but knows through experience the appropriateness of such policy.
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