Michelle Daw, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

The Ardrossan community is taking health care into its own hands by helping secure more services after the local private hospital closed earlier this year.

A new International Medical Graduate, Dr Sajini Abeysekera, has arrived from Sri Lanka with the support of the Ardrossan Community Op Shop and started taking patients at Medical HQ Ardrossan from yesterday (Monday, September 3).

Dr Abeysekera has a four-year contract to work at the practice and her arrival means it now has two GPs, a GP registrar, an IMG and a GP who runs a fortnightly women’s health clinic.

Her arrival means the practice will now be able to accept new patients.

The op shop provided $15,000 to pay for Dr Abeysekera’s visa which she said had enabled her to start at the practice two years earlier than would have otherwise been possible.

She thanked the op shop volunteers and the local community for their support.

“I hope I can do a good job and provide great service,” Dr Abeysekera said.

“Ardrossan is a peaceful and beautiful town and the people are lovely.”

Dr Abeysekera is being supervised as an International Medical Graduate by Dr Kamban Babu.

The op shop has also funded equipment valued at about $15,000 for the Ardrossan Health Centre, to enable a wider range of services to be offered at the facility, which comprises a range of consulting rooms.

This includes fitting out a treatment room with a dermatoscope, sterilising and cleaning equipment, an overhead treatment light, and treatment chair to enable Dr Babu to provide skin checks, biopsies and dermatology treatments.

In addition, the op shop has funded the purchase of portable ear micro-suction equipment, which will be used by Medical HQ staff to treat patients at the health centre and residents at Seaview Aged Care.

The extra services will start at the end of 2024.

A dentist and physiotherapist provide weekly services at the centre, which is also utilised by a visiting cardiologist and other specialists.

The op shop was formerly known as the Ardrossan Community Hospital Op Shop and has been renamed to reflect its new direction.

Op shop president Jan Westley said the shop continued to support Seaview Aged Care, which was formerly part of the hospital, and had donated $125,000 towards the facility since December.

Mrs Westley said the op shop was working with the Health Ardrossan Action Group to attract more health providers to the centre.

“It’s been quite a negative for the town losing the hospital, so it’s great that we can provide some services as a medical hub so that people don’t need to go to Adelaide,” she said.

“A healthy Ardrossan is what we are all about.”

Medical HQ Group chief operating officer Carolyn Cheah praised the op shop for its support to bring Dr Abeysekera to the practice and for funding equipment at the health centre.

“I think they have been fantastic, reaching out to us and working together to make all this happen for the Ardrossan community,” she said.

Ms Cheah said Ardrossan had been classified as an area of need by the Department of Health and Aged Care, enabling the practice to secure Dr Abeysekera as an IMG.

Meanwhile, Member for Narungga Fraser Ellis has called for a triage service staffed by paramedics to be provided in Ardrossan, to help fill the gap left by the closure of the hospital in March.

Speaking in State Parliament last Wednesday, August 28, he said the government had provided such a service at Keith, following the closure of its community hospital.

“In a state of emergency there is no time to ring and make an appointment with a GP, should there be one available,” he said.

“Sometimes there is not time to drive to Adelaide to try to secure the services that people down here have.”

Mr Ellis said more health services were needed to service Ardrossan’s growing population.

“It is a wonderfully popular retirement destination and a community that is welcoming to people who want to move for a bit of a sea change, but that will be at risk if we do not make sure that there are health services there to serve that community and health services that are fit for purpose to do the job,” he said.  

Push for petition to “see light of day”

A petition calling for better health services on Yorke Peninsula is yet to be considered by State Parliament, even though it was tabled in November 2023.

Speaking in State Parliament on August 28, Member for Narungga Fraser Ellis said the petition had been sitting with the Legislative Review Committee.

He said, under legislation, the petition should have triggered an inquiry into health care in the electorate.

“I hope that it can soon be referred to a different committee, because it seems that the Legislative Review Committee does not have the time nor the resources to give it the light of day,” he said.

Speaking after parliament, Mr Ellis said an inquiry would give constituents a chance to make submissions.

“Nearly 11,000 people signed our local petition because they believed it would lead to an objective outcome, a process that they could be a part of,” he said.

“The inquiry needs to begin as soon as possible so that the will of the people can be heard, like what was intended when the rule was put in place.”  

This article appeared in  Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 3 September 2024.