Coolah and Mendooran are among 220 rural communities which will be given priority when seeking to attract more doctors.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The towns are among rural and remote Australian communities which will in future be automatically assumed to have shortage of doctors.
Minister for Rural Health Fiona Nash said while capital cities have an oversupply of GPs, most country areas do not have enough doctors.
“As of today, medical practices in 220 rural and remote communities will be automatically guaranteed access to an extra pool of doctors which capital city practices can’t hire,” she said.
“These areas outside capital cities will be automatically classed as having as having a shortage of General Practice Doctors, making them a District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) and giving them access to the extra doctors.
“These DWS areas will no longer need to waste time filling out paperwork to prove they have a shortage of GPs.
“They will no longer have to wait months until they can prove a doctor has left the area before recruiting another.
“Medical practices in these areas will be able to hire GPs who were trained overseas and who have passed an Australian equivalent exam.
“Typically, for their first 10 years of practice in Australia, overseas trained doctors are unable to access Medicare services unless they work where there is a shortage of doctors – which effectively means country areas.”
The Department of Health also granted an extra 244 communities DWS status based on their population to GP ratio.
“The shortage of doctors outside capital cities is one the biggest issues in my portfolio of rural health.
“As a rural person myself, I’m determined to get more doctors to country areas,” Ms Nash said.
