Rallah Baker, from the Biri-Gubba-Juru and Yugerra people, will be Australia’s first Aboriginal Opthamologist. This is a huge achievement in a country where there are only 204 Indigenous doctors, and only 22 specialists currently in training.
Australia’s First Nation communities status regarding eye health is bleak. They are 12x more likely to suffer blinding cataracts, with Australia remaining the only developed nation where trachoma exists- in 60% of remote First Nation communities. This is exacerbated by some First Nations members having a distrust of White doctors (and rightly so) and a continued lack of funding by government in First Nation Health programs (much of the slack is taken up by NGOs like the Fred Hollows Foundation). Having an Indigenous face, like Rallah Baker, on the other side of the table is a huge boon. (X)



















