A planned Federal Government $2000 cap on tax deductions for self-education expenses could delay advancements in new surgical treatments, according to the South Australian branch of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons.

Today more than 20 professional bodies joined to demand the Government scrap the cap fearing it will hurt the economy.

The Government announced in April that from July 2014 it will set a $2000 cap on how much people can claim on work-related expenses for education.

A communique released today from 22 professional bodies, including health, law, accountancy, engineering and education groups, calls for an end to this budget measure.

The Royal Australian College of Surgeons, which has sent its concerns to the Commonwealth, said surgeons were expected to maintain a continuous standard of professional development, which would be impacted under the cap.

“The inclination to continue training will be severely dented because it will cost a lot more,” South Australian chairman Peter Subramaniam said.

“Surgeons are not going to make patients pay for education, but what it would mean is that we will be lower on the uptake for new technology and new treatments as we would be relying more on reports coming out of conferences rather than meeting people, travelling and observing these treatments being done.”

Subramaniam said the measure raises the question “as to what the government thinks of the quality of health care it wants to provide for Australians”.

“In my specialty of vascular surgery, prior to 15 years ago the traffic in terms of international training was people from Australia going out to learn new skills and come back and now it’s the other way.

“Now we have international specialist and training from the UK, US and Europe trying to get into Australian hospitals to watch and learn from us.

“The long-term effect is that it will retard our program.”

He said while it would not stop surgeons would maintaining a high standard, they may be forced to look to “webinars” rather than travel for national and international training.

“I think the perception is that many conferences are trumped up holidays and that’s cynical and easy … but how else will we maintain skills and interact with international colleagues and deliver a service?

“All that will be affected.”

Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson says it will have a “debilitating effect” on the capacity for equipping Australia’s workforce with the skills needed to remain competitive and build a diversified economy.

“As global economic threats continue to mount, the government should be creating incentives for workers to lift their skills and upgrade their qualifications to meet the rapidly changing needs of our labour market,” she said in a separate statement.

The group says the Australian Workforce Productivity Agency has warned that industry demand for people with higher education qualifications is set to soar by between three and four per cent every year to 2025.

“The cap puts at risk the ability to fill this demand for a skilled labour force. Skill shortages do nothing to increase productivity. This measure impacts on efforts to expand the economy,” their communique says.

At the same time, many professional bodies require ongoing education to ensure their members’ qualifications and knowledge are up to date.

The planned cap will escalate the cost of eduction to individuals to meet these professional obligations.

“If unable to be met by the individual, it will create an unaffordable impost on small business,” it says.

– with AAP