Chiltern residents will not have a doctor until at least May, clinic lessee says

The lessee for the Chiltern Medical Centre, Sydney doctor Nameer Abdullah, said he had arranged for a new GP to serve the town, but Medicare paperwork had not been finalised.

“It's a slow process to get a provider number, that will take us six weeks from now, if they wanted to they could do it the same day but it will take time,” Dr Abdullah said.

He said the doctor was working at the Blacktown hospital and doing part-time GP work in Sydney, but needed a unique provider number specific to Chiltern.

Chiltern has been without a doctor since the end of February when GP Atia Khanom moved to Melbourne to look after her mother.

The lack of information about the move and the clinic's closure has upset patients.

Dr Abdullah said patients were being assisted through other clinics he operates in the region.

“We've got two practices, one in Corowa and one in Lavington, so we're offering those patients the opportunity to see someone close to them,” Dr Abdullah said.

“They're not far, it's only 20 minutes (travel).”

Dr Abdullah said it was difficult to maintain doctors at Chiltern and the clinic ran at a loss which was offset by income from other sites.

He said he was in the last 12 months of a three-year lease with Indigo North Health and was open to relinquishing it.

“Even now if we fail to recruit that doctor we would look to get someone to take it over,” Dr Abdullah said.

The owner-manager of Barnawartha's Indigo Family Medical Centre, Helen Barter, said she had expressed her interest in taking over the lease since the departure of Dr Khanom but had received a non-committal response.

Indigo North Health chief executive Shane Kirk said he accepted Dr Abdullah was doing the best he could to find a replacement and his organisation did not have a direct role in recruiting.

He said if Dr Abdullah ended the lease he would be happy to speak to Mrs Barter about taking it.

Mrs Barter said she had a 70 per cent lift in Chiltern patients after Dr Khanom left and had 225 on her books.

“I could be seeing 50 patients a day here from Chiltern but our premises aren't geared up for that,” she said.

“About 95 per cent of our patients come from Chiltern to Barnawartha and 5 per cent are from Barnawartha so it would be better to be in Chiltern servicing our patients rather than the other way round."

A new principal doctor, Colin Cameron, will start at the clinic next week.

The Glasgow-trained medico, who has been a cruise shop doctor, moved to Myrtleford for family reasons.

“I'm really just looking to settle down and stop working on ships,” Dr Cameron said.