By Callum Ludwig
Yarra Junction Medical Centre (YJMC) has gone from seven doctors employed to only three part-timers in the past year and is struggling to recruit new doctors willing to relocate to the area, leaving residents forced to go elsewhere or wait days for an appointment.
Practice Manager Alison Dajlan said doctors left the practice for a variety of fair reasons, and simply couldn’t be replaced.
“One doctor retired due to health reasons, two more moved interstate to be closer to family and the last was travelling an hour and a half each way with a young family,” she said.
“Most people don’t want to travel too far from where they live so there is difficulty recruiting. It’s impossible with the non-DPA (Distribution Priority Area) status being forced on us.”
After the Modified Monash Model (MMM) was introduced by the Federal Government in 2019, YJMC was classed as in an MM2 area, or as a regional centre.
This status results in little government incentives for doctors to be located there, including the requirement for doctors trained overseas to spend at least 10 years working at a rural practice.
This is despite Yarra Junction being located over an hour and a half away from the CBD, and only 1.5km from being classed as an MM5, or small rural town.
Ms Dajlan said the inability to recruit doctors has had a direct impact on patients’ access to medical assistance, especially because YJMC is the closest facility for emergencies from Yarra Junction out to Warburton, considered a small rural town under the MMM.
“Patients are just going wherever they can and that’s what they have to do at the moment,” she said.
The lack of doctors has also meant that YJMC has had to pull out of its crucial partnerships with Advent Care Warburton and Estia Health in Yarra Junction, meaning that aged care residents within the facilities no longer have regular visits from doctors.
Co-owners of YJMC Chinthana and Chandana said the clinic’s capacity to help patients has been severely reduced.
“We used to see 250 patients a day. Sometimes even 300,” they said.
“Now we are seeing less than 100 and some patients have to wait a couple of days to see their doctor.”
YJMC are doing everything possible to be reconsidered for support, having submitted an application for their non-DPA status to be assessed by the Rural Workforce Agency Victoria.
If approved, it would be forwarded to the Department of Health Victoria, as well as contacting David Gillespie, the Federal Minister for Rural Health.
Star Mail tried to contact Mr Gillespie’s office but received no reply.
The Yarra Ranges Council has stepped in to try and assist, contacting State Government ministers and Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt, as well as providing data to support YJMC’s case.
