Doctors will never back away from treating a patient to the best of our abilities, or offering health advice to anyone who needs it. We can do this till we’re blue in the face. But if we fail to tackle the underlying cause of worsening heatwaves, drought and other extreme weather events, we’re fighting a losing battle.

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Just as a doctor looks beyond a patient’s symptoms to identify the root cause of their ailment, we need to stop reacting to heatwaves as one-off incidents and recognise that climate change is making them longer, hotter, and more frequent.

We doctors know this, and it only becomes more evident with each heat-stressed patient we treat and each temperature record that topples — which is happening more frequently.

It’s why health professionals have described climate change as a public health emergency, and the World Health Organization calls climate change and air pollution, caused by burning fossil fuels, the greatest environmental risks to health.

Just as we wouldn’t give smoker pills and puffers for their damaged lungs without also advising them to stop smoking, we cannot in good faith dispense short-term health tips for heatwaves without an urgent plea to tackle climate change and Australia’s addiction to fossil fuels.

It is entirely possible to power Australia with 100 per cent renewable energy, and to export our low-carbon solutions to neighbouring countries to help them cut their emissions too.

All we need is the political will from all parties to take action. The fact that this much-needed climate leadership is glaringly absent makes me sick.

Dr Sujata Allan is a GP in western Sydney, and a member of Doctors for the Environment Australia.