City of Karratha, State Govt put lucrative subsidies and cash lures on table to swell GP ranks

The chronic shortage of general practitioners in Karratha has prompted the local and State government to offer attractive incentives to lure more doctors to the region. City of Karratha documents noted there were 11 GPs within the Karratha region, fewer than half the target of 24. Three more were said to be in recruitment. To address concerns, the City has agreed to extend its medical services housing subsidy program until June next year to attract more GPs as housing prices continue to soar. The program means eligible general practitioners and clinical practitioners could receive a housing subsidy of up to $300 a week. Funding to support GPs to visit Karratha and assess lifestyle opportunities has also been included under the program. City of Karratha Mayor Peter Long said housing was a barrier for GPs. “Things have got tougher now. The house prices have gone up 25 per cent roughly in the last year,” he said. “Doctors don’t make any more money here unlike the people who work for some companies who get all sorts of subsidies. “I’ve spoken to a few of the doctors who have been on the scheme and they think it’s great. It’s the reason they are here. “It’s certainly a liveability issue if it takes you a week to get into the doctor and you’ve got a cold or you’re not too well, it’s not the best.” Last month, Health Minister Roger Cook travelled to the Pilbara to announce WA Labor Government’s election promise to deliver a GP incentives program to attract more GPs to the region. Mr Long said the City’s program would be reviewed if the State Government was to bring in similar incentives to prevent “double dipping”. “It’s not the sort of thing that local government normally does, in fact I don’t know of any local governments outside the Pilbara that does this, so we would rather not be doing it,” he said. “If the State Government’s doing it, that’s great, we’ll stop.”