Rural Aussie towns left without doctors over Christmas

Some regional Australian towns were left without a doctor over the Christmas period, while some expect to be without a fully qualified doctor for weeks, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) said on Tuesday.

The busy Christmas and New Year period, in which many doctors and other medical professionals return home from regional work to see their families, has highlighted the nation's rural doctor shortage according to RDAA president Ewen McPhee.

He said despite the shortage, communities had right to expect that there would be a doctor, or reliable medical service, available "24/7."

"Even with the best of intentions over the last 20 years, we still haven't fixed the rural workforce shortage problem," McPhee told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"In spite of increasing our medical student training, and in spite of increased numbers of doctors that we bring in from other countries, we still have these sorts of challenges."

He said lawmakers needed to have a greater understanding of the challenges in attracting doctors to rural towns, adding that more money needs to be invested to ensure rural communities have adequate healthcare available.

"We need to acknowledge that people delivering these services, they need our support and that probably needs more investment in rural and remote medical services," he said.

Meanwhile Rebecca Devereaux, a doctor based in rural Queensland, said the rural shortage puts a massive strain on those who are able to stay on during the festive season.

"It just makes it difficult because you are a small rural or regional hospital, or sometimes it's the one doctor there and lots of the (temporary helpers) will be taking holidays," she said.

"So finding someone to fill in the spaces is really difficult." Endit