Fed: Rural GPs meet today to address doctor shortage
Rural doctors are holding emergency talks in the New South Wales city of Tamworth todiscuss solutions to growing shortages of GPs and specialists in country areas.
Rural Doctors Association president KEN MACKEY says the meeting's been prompted bya lack of specialists in Tamworth -- but the association recognises the shortage of GPsin smaller towns.
Dr MACKEY's told ABC radio the future lies in attracting greater numbers of new medical students.
But he says the industry also has to recognise two-thirds of new doctors are women,who tend to have shorter working lives because of family commitments.
Dr MACKEY says Australia also must compete with other countries -- and not only retainits graduates, but attract doctors from overseas.
Research by Access Economics shows one in five Australians live in an area where there'sa severe shortage of GP services, rising to one in two people in some rural and remoteareas.
Access estimates the national doctor shortage at 1,200 to 2,000 GPs, with chronic shortagesin inland and parts of coastal New South Wales and Queensland.
AAP RTV kmh/daw/tb/rp
KEYWORD: DOCTORS (CANBERRA)
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