Cohuna residents can no longer have babies at the local hospital, forcing them to travel an hour for maternal health services after the town doctor stepped down as the local obstetrician.
Dr Peter Barker worked as an obstetrician in Cohuna for 38 years but said we wanted to work less as he headed towards retirement.
He said the rural medical landscape had shifted since he became the town's doctor.
"When I first came to Cohuna there were doctors in every town delivering babies and doing operations," he said.
Fewer births
Dr Barker said stricter regulations around safe practices to deliver babies was also making it unviable for rural doctors to continue delivering babies.
"If anyone's got a number of conditions they have to go to a larger hospital," he said.
He said a significant number of the 60-80 pregnant women who came to Cohuna Hospital every year had to seek treatment elsewhere.
Dr Baker said sending more women away to larger hospitals, closer to the city, meant rural doctors lost their obstetrics skills.
He said New South Wales and Queensland governments have supported rural generalist programs more than Victoria.
Lack of support
To keep Cohuna District Hospital's prenatal and postnatal care going for locals, Dr Barker said he was doing what he could.
"I'm helping to re-train the midwives to be an independent workforce," Mr Barker said.
Peta Rutherford, CEO of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, said rural doctors needed to be trained and paid better.
"The RDA of Victoria has concerns around the structure and the remuneration arrangements, particularly for urgent care centres [in the regions]," Ms Rutherford said.
Ms Rutherford said the state government was working on improving the Rural Generalist Pathway which would result in more junior doctors in the regions.
"We've actually seen a different approach in how these doctors will be trained and supported," she said.
Rural areas struggle
Dr Barker said he was worried rural towns were increasingly being left without essential medical care, forcing residents to travel hours for care.
"The problem is there's no one stepping up to fill the gaps," he said.
He said there was a lack of ear, nose, and throat specialists, and paediatricians across regional Victoria.
"I think it's terrible if someone's got grommets or tonsils they get told either go private and pay $7,000 or go to Melbourne and wait 3 years."
