Rural GP program axed

Medical professionals are worried it will be harder to recruit GPs to the Pilbara now a junior doctor program is to be axed.

The Prevocational General Practice Placements Program will end this December after the Coalition Government axed the initiative as part of recent Federal Budget cuts.

A 10-week internship designed to encourage junior doctors to choose general practice as their medical specialisation, the program has also been successful in bringing doctors to rural areas.

Since it was introduced in 2008, 29 doctors have chosen to complete their PGPPP placement in the Pilbara.

Kimberley-Pilbara Medicare Local chief executive officer Chris Pickett said 15 of the Pilbara placements went on to successfully become GPs.

"Having that exposure to rural general practice is worth its weight in gold," he said.

"It sets the doctors up from an early age to consider a rural placement."

The axing of the PGPPP comes as GP numbers in Karratha and Hedland have stabilised over the past two years.

According to records from Government agency Rural Health West, GP numbers in the Pilbara and Kimberley have remained about 150 in the past two years, up from about 120 in 2008.

The Department of Health said such figures were a sign the PGPPP was no longer necessary to encourage doctors to choose careers as GPs.

It said rather than investing in attracting GPs, it would redirect PGPPP funding to create more places in the Australian General Practice Training program, which trains doctors to become GPs.

The PGPPP program had been important in boosting GP numbers in the Pilbara, with nine doctors taking part this year compared with just one in its first year in 2008.

He said the intern work done by the PGPPP junior doctors also helped to relieve the high workloads GPs faced in the region