Council cuts ODGP rent
Wednesday July 29, 2009
Cobar Shire Council has agreed to
reduce the rent on the Cobar Primary Health Care Centre.
Outback Division of General Practice (ODGP), which manages the centre, made a request that council reduce the rent payable from $40,000 per annum to $18,000 per annum, saying the centre is currently running at a loss.
In correspondence to council, ODGP chief executive Stuart Gordon said unless the centre’s costs are reduced, “the division would be forced to withdraw its service from Cobar”.
“Costs relating to the procurement and supply of GPs for the town, support of allied health and other primary care services and infrastructure has created an accrued deficit which the division can no longer sustain within its current program,” Mr Gordon said.
Cr Peter Yench moved a motion to completely waive the rental of the medical centre for one year, however the motion was lost when put to a vote.
“[The division] have battled from day one but they’ve taken it on and they’ve done a terrific job.
“They’ve proven what they can do and we should be supporting them,” he said.
Councillors agreed that an urgent review of the centre’s rental was necessary for the division, but needed to take into account the loss of revenue for council.
“No one in Cobar is getting the high rental they were before, so it’s a good time to look at reducing it,” Cr Gerard Francisco said.
Mr Gordon said the division would be willing to renegotiate the rent on a yearly basis, with models indicating it could be profitable with three full time doctors operating out of the centre.
“If they had three full time doctors over the past year we would not be in this situation, but the fact is they are competing not just with the rest of Australia, but the shortage of doctors worldwide,” Cr Michael Cox said.
“They will get into a position to claw back the deficit,” he said.
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