The $800k job that comes with a four-bedroom house rent free: Aussie town offers up incredible package – so what’s the catch?
A rural town in Western Australia is so desperate to attract a doctor that it is offering $800,000 annual salary and a rent-free four-bedroom house to any medic who will take the job.
Quairading, in Western Australia’s wheatbelt region, is only a two-hour drive east of Perth but the country town has struggled for months to find a permanent GP.
In a determined bid to attract candidates, the town’s council is offering the $800,000 package which would also cover all running and staff costs for the doctor’s practice.
There are further incentives for staying in the job, including an extra $12,000 a year if they stay for more than two years and a $23,000 bonus if they remain beyond five.
The Quairading Shire (pictured, Shire Hall), east of Perth, is offering a $800,000 salary and a four bedroom house rent-free in a desperate plea to hire a GP for the town of 619 residents
The rural town is one of many small towns in the Wheatbelt region struggling to find a GP with nearby Toodyay having to shut its medical office last year (pictured, Quairading)
The town only has 619 residents and is among many such rural communities across Australia struggling to attract a doctor.
Australia is in the grips of a national GP shortage, forcing some towns to shut medical centre doors.
A town northwest of Quairading, Toodyay, had to shut its doctor’s surgery in November last year because the town could not find any GPs to keep it open.
The doctor will be given a four-bedroom house rent free
‘The council will not stand by idle when the community has such a critical need,’ Quairading Shire President Peter Smith told The West.
‘If we don’t have a doctor, we won’t have a medical clinic, then we won’t have a hospital, we won’t have a chemist and so the demise will begin.’
The shire said it would post the job offer in West Australian medical publications next week and if that did not flush out a candidate, it would advertise in such publications on the east coast.
The vast majority of medical graduates aim to move into lucrative specialist fields.
Only 14 per cent of Australian medical students intend to become a general practitioner, and only 4.5 per cent of students are looking to work in a small town.
Dr Ramya Raman called on Australia to support rural doctors
Ramya Raman, the WA chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said young doctors are only willing to move to regional areas if they could get good housing, schooling, childcare and work for their partner – and not just a good salary.
‘Supporting junior doctors to have that opportunity to trial general practice as a career option (is important)’ she told the publication.
‘And in addition to that, fast tracking the entry for international doctors.
‘The other aspect of it is working very closely with the communities in trying to enhance the retention of these doctors.’
WA shadow health minister Libby Mettam called on the state government – led by Premier Mark McGowan – to provide incentives for doctors to practice in rural towns.
‘These concerns are backed up by the latest figures which indicate we have a below average number of GPs per population and the lowest rate in remote WA,’ Ms Mettam said.
‘This is a primary health concern which has implications for our hospital system when it is not addressed, as well as the economic development of our regions.’
