VIC: Fed Gov t says rural doctor numbers finally increasing

AAP General News (Australia)
08-14-1999
VIC: Fed Gov t says rural doctor numbers finally increasing

The federal government says the number of doctors in rural Australia is increasing for the
first time in a generation.

Senator JUDITH TROETH has told a Victorian workshop the federal government is redressing
the imbalance in health services between rural and urban communities.

She says after an injection of $171 million into rural health in the last budget the number
of doctors has increased by 7.2 per cent in rural areas and by 21.5 per cent in more remote
areas.

Senator TROETH was speaking at a workshop run by the University of Melbourne and Department
of Natural Resources and Environment called TOWARDS A GREATER REGIONAL AND RURAL AUSTRALIA.

She says $40 million has been used to establish 30 new regional health centres, $43 million
for rural retention grants, $8 million for fly-in-fly-out female GP services and $4 million
for services for women with breast cancer.

AAP RTV hmg/shm

KEYWORD: DOCTORS (MELBOURNE)

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