A small shire in Western Australia's Wheatbelt region is offering a package worth more than $800,000 to attract a doctor.
The Shire of Quairading, 160 kilometres east of Perth, has a general practitioner contracted until March 14.
But a shortage of doctors in regional WA has the council concerned for the future.
The proposed package includes a fully maintained and stocked medical clinic, a four-bedroom family home and a salary of $300,000.
Shire President Peter Smith says it is vital the town retains a local doctor.
"We have a hospital in town that our doctor services, we have a pharmacy," he said.
"There is potential that if we lose our doctor, then the viability of the hospital and the pharmacy comes into question.
"So there is a significant potential knock-on effect of not having a GP."
Regional areas missing out
Rural Health West deputy chief executive Kelli Porter says Wheatbelt towns are often the hardest hit by doctor shortages.
"The Wheatbelt has the highest incidence of solo GPs working in solo clinics anywhere in Western Australia," she told ABC Radio Perth.
"We see the Wheatbelt shires often have to step up and provide some form of package, maybe financial, or a combination.
"We also see that occurring in parts of the Midwest and in the Goldfields too."
Rural Health West has 91 vacancies listed on its website.
Ms Porter said the state and federal governments should be providing greater incentives for doctors to take jobs in the regions.
"There just simply aren't enough GP candidates interested in working in rural WA and our GP candidate resources are diminishing," she said.
"We'd like to see some stronger government policy that would push doctors and encourage them to work in country WA more.
"It's sometimes about money, but not always — there's a lot of lifestyle factors that concern doctors going to country areas as well."
