Rural GPs in high demand in SA as doctors call on peers to make country move

Mannum GP Dr Wissam Ghamwari has made the move to regional SA, and he encourages more of his colleagues to join him.  (Supplied: Royal Australian College of General Practitioners)

Rural GPs in South Australia are calling on their colleagues in the city to make the move to regional practices, as a way to benefit themselves and local communities. 

One of those country doctors is Dr Wissam Ghamrawi, who recently made the move to Mannum, in South Australia's Mid-Murray region, for his first stint at regional practice.

"This is the beauty of our general practice, it allows me to know my patients and help them in a clinical and acute (hospital) setting.

Dr Wissam Ghamwari says the skills he is learning while working in Mannum will be invaluable to his career.  (Supplied: Royal Australian College of General Practitioners)

"You get to keep patients closer to home, which is very rewarding."

'Critical mass' needed to retain doctors 

The call for more rural doctors comes as some towns in South Australia face a shortage of medical services, including the suspension of birthing services at Waikerie Hospital in the state's Riverland. 

Traditionally, country GPs were required to be multi-skilled, work in both clinics and hospitals and were on call day and night in case of an emergency. 

But Rural Doctors Association of Australia President Dr John Hall said this was changing, and he encouraged groups of GPs to move to areas in need of medical professionals, to share the workload. 

Dr John Hall says the workload of country GPs is changing but more doctors are needed to share the burden.  (ABC News: Selby Stewart)

"If we can get more doctors working in the country and we get more critical mass, we know we can build models of care where the workload is really palatable. 

"Those challenges of being on call a lot or being required to be available are real challenges. 

"But they can be overcome if we build in models and we make sure that health services employ the right number of doctors to make sure the service is adequately covered." 

Country GPs critical in vaccine rollout

As the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine continues and more doses are made available to the general public, Dr Ghamwari believes the role of rural doctors being community leaders, as well as health professionals, will become more important. 

Waikerie Health Service's Dr Kelly Mibus was the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the Riverland region in March.  (ABC Riverland: Sam Bradbrook)

"We know the community, we know individuals and this saves a lot of time and effort to be able to build rapport with people we don't know because we already know the patients.

"Giving a vaccine and providing education is something that we can do, and are trying our best to do, but it's definitely easier when you know the patient."