A monthly financial loss sustained by free Dunedin GP clinic Servants Health Centre could be addressed by a funding boost announced yesterday.
Eligible practices would share an extra $4 million each year for four years through the very low-cost access scheme, an 8% increase, Health Minister Tony Ryall said.
In Dunedin, Servants Health Centre, which is free, and the Community Support Medical Practice, which charges up to $10 an appointment, qualified.
Servants Health Centre manager Jo Rowe was delighted when contacted for comment yesterday, saying the extra funding was ''fantastic''.
The service was running at a $1000 to $1500 loss each month, and she hoped the funding would address the shortfall. Mrs Rowe told the Otago Daily Times last month the service would last only another three or four years if the situation continued.
The Southern Primary Health Organisation would distribute the South's portion of the funding. PHO chief executive Ian Macara said when contacted the PHO asked for extra funding in a submission to a recent Ministry of Health review of the low-cost fee regime.
He expected the extra funding to be available from January 1, 2014.
