Rural Doctors Association of NSW president Dr David Richmond said cutting the Pre-Vocational General Practice Placement Program (PGPPP) will be detrimental for regional towns.

“A lot of us felt the PGPPP was one of the most useful programs for exposing young doctors to working in rural areas,” Dr Richmond said.

The program places junior doctors in rural practices, giving then experience of working in a different situation. 

Dr Richmonds said the scheme had worked well in his experience, benefitting both the students and the towns where they were placed. 

He believes it is a better way to overcome the shortage of doctors in rural areas than  bringing in foreign doctors. 

At the same time the PGPPP was axed, an additional 300 GP Registrar training places in regional areas was announced.

“Doctors who are trained overseas come in and most are working in the country because they are forced to as a moratorium by the government. They have to work in rural areas for 10 years before they can go where they want,” Dr Richmond said.

“They acquire skills and provide a valuable service while they are here but they don’t want to remain in rural areas.”

Dr Richmond is calling on all rural doctors to ensure they don’t take on GP Registrars if they can’t spare the time to train them.