By ANNMARIE
WYNDHAM City Council will continue a campaign to address the city’s doctor shortage by taking prospective doctors on bus tours, setting up stalls at career expos, and targeting medical students.
The council voted to spend $12,000 for the campaign for new doctors.
Since the money was first set aside last May, two new medical practices have been added to Wyndham’s total of 29, with six new full-time doctors.
The city now has 97 working GPs, with an estimated 66 of them full-time.
A report to the council from health development officer Jacqui Croxon said the money did not need to be spent because of the improvement.
But councillors Bob Fairclough and Kim McAliney said councillors should reject the recommendation.
“We’ve already taken big steps forward, but we need to keep it up,” said Cr Fairclough.
Cr McAliney said she thought $12,000 was a small price to pay to ensure the city’s rapidly growing population had a sufficient level of doctors.
Meanwhile, the Werribee Mercy Hospital continues to negotiate with Sydney-based University of Notre Dame to build a $2 million clinical school to train and keep medical students in Wyndham.
Professor Julie Quinlivan, medical school dean, said the university hoped to have about 25 students a year coming through the program in the next few years.
The students would spend their last two years of a four-year program in Werribee, increasing their chances of staying in the area.
