A RESPECTED Riverina doctor has lashed out at the federal government for axing a critical training program at the same time as rural communities battle a severe general practitioner shortage.
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Young is the latest town in crisis, with one doctor set to retire and another wanting to call it quits, but unable to do so due to the lack of GPs available to replace them.
The dire situation has prompted Gundagai's Dr Paul Mara to slam the federal government for "canning" the Pre-vocational General Practice Placement Program (PGPP) last year, a pivotal training module that equipped young doctors with the skills required to work in rural communities.
The program, which was conducted in country areas, also proved successful in keeping those trained in the program working in the bush, Dr Mara said.
"There's no point filling medical schools or bringing in overseas doctors because it's not solving the issue (of doctors not wanting to work in the bush)," Dr Mara said.
"The PGPP helps build the skills required to be a GP in the country and one of the really big issues is that the government has got rid of the program. It was one way of bringing doctors into rural practices."
Dr Mara said Gundagai, Cootamundra and Cooma were towns that had benefited from the program.
"We've been conducting the program for three or four years," he said. "Out of the Gundagai cohort we've got eight of the 15 who have stayed on in rural medicine."
He said a graduate from the Gundagai program was due to start as a GP in Young early next year to help ease the shortage.
Young has seen three doctors leave the town in three months. Another, Dr Paul Sevier, is retiring at the end of November and Dr Peter Hamiltion-Gibbs, who has been practising for 43 years, wanting to retire.
Dr Hamiltion-Gibbs feels he can't retire while the town does not have enough doctors to replace those who have left.