In the town of Kimba, Abbey Strauss could only wait for a doctor from a neighboring town to arrive as her daughter was having an allergic reaction to a wasp sting. If something had happened to the doctor while on the way, the consequences could have been severe.
Kimba has been without a doctor for the past 3 years. Other cities like Port Augusta have doctors but they are only 20 and the town’s population is 14,000. Not nearly enough to meet the needs of every citizen.
The Strauss family Source: SBS
Why is there a shortage of doctors?
According to Peta Rutherford, Chief Executive of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, its not an issue of numbers, but rather an issue of distribution.
«The evidence, or the research, indicates Australia is training a sufficient number of medical students to meet the needs of our health services. But what we’re not seeing is students moving after university from large regional centres out into smaller regional centres and rural and remote Australia» said Mrs Rutherford.
Corrine Taylor is chair of the Association of Medical Recruiters in Australia and New Zealand. She notes that «our GPs and our training programs don’t force doctors to rotate through regional areas, so again, if you’re not establishing relationships, if you’re not establishing networks in those areas, you won’t settle there once you have your qualifications».
So it is also a matter of incentives.
Until a solution is found, towns like Kimba will have to go without a single doctor.
