Nine doctors were last week given the green light to build an Altona North health hub to counter a dearth of GPs amid a burgeoning population.
Mukesh Haikerwal, who chairs the Council of the World Medical Association, said the new precinct in Blackshaws Road would have 30 practitioners, providing certainty for a suburb expected to have 2435 more dwellings by 2031.
“What we’re trying to do is create a health precinct that will bring certainty of services to the area, a good mixture of services, in an environment where people will want to come and work and stay because to this very day it’s still hard to recruit workers to the area – medical or anybody else. People don’t seem to want to work in the western suburbs.”
Hobsons Bay’s population is set to grow from 89,072 to 102,596 by 2031.
At the same time, not enough GPs are graduating from Melbourne, Monash or Deakin universities, Dr Haikerwal said.
He said the new health hub had been privately funded because, being in a non-marginal seat, doctors could not expect any funding or subsidies. “We’re not a marginal seat so we don’t get the incentives or support they do in other parts of the state.
“So, we’re literally putting our hands in our pockets to make this happen. What we’re asking for is a fair go through the system so we can actually provide these services in an equitable, accessible way.”
He was critical of the federal government’s proposed Medicare co-payment, saying this disincentive would end up costing more.
“We’re in a situation where the boat is under strain, but an investment in health and looking after people in the general practice community sector means they get care earlier and it reduces the demand on the hospital system,” he said.
“When they go to hospital it costs more and the Commonwealth government is charged a bigger percentage of the payments for those hospital services.
“It means they’re [the government] actually shooting themselves in the foot by making it more difficult to get services in general practice and primary care by putting a potential co-payment at the top end.”
