Generous pay package offer for a clinic doctor

A South Hedland doctor’s clinic has been forced to boost its pay offer by 50 per cent after a fruitless two-and-a-half-year search for a permanent physician.

Picture by Alex Massey: Warralong children Florita Crow and Shennielle Sambo are both treated by the Wirraka Maya Health Service

Aboriginal health clinic Wirraka Maya Health Service began increasing its offer from a $200,000 salary four months ago, recently settling on $300,000 for a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

The pay is part of a $450,000 package at its Hamilton Street clinic that includes a furnished house, a fully maintained car, yearly return flights to Perth and annual study and conference leave.

The package is well above the average pay for FRAC GPs in Perth, who the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners estimates earn between $200,000 and $300,000.

Chief executive of the not-forprofit South Hedland clinic, Dr Harry Randhawa, said the generous incentives reflected the chronic shortage of medical workers in rural WA.

“We understand that we are not exactly the bee’s knees of the world, but we are looking for someone who cares,” he said.

Dr Randhawa said the clinic had relied on locum GPs for more than two years.

The clinic is also seeking a deputy medical director, offering a package worth $500,000 — or almost $10,000 a week — as well as someone to help run the registered training organisation.