Maryam Sana, Qaisar Bashir to open Gympie Day and Evening Clinic

A new doctors’ practice in Gympie will be music to the ears of many families that struggle to get in to see a GP, and their pragmatic focus on after hours medical care is expected to ease the burden on the Gympie Hospital and ease the region’s health service shortage.

A GP couple focused on bringing medical services to Gympie until late at night will open a new mixed-billing clinic near the Central Shopping Centre next week with eyes high hopes for more in the future.

Dr Maryam Sana and Dr Qaisar Bashir have been general practitioners for 14 years, previously working in Hervey Bay and Sydney, and now running the Bopple (sic) Surgery at the Tiaro Medical Centre.

The couple decided to open the Gympie Day and Evening Clinic in Gympie to help with medical service shortages and long waiting times, particularly at the Gympie Hospital Emergency Department, amid an ongoing shortage of GPs across the region.

Dr Sana said with patients needing to go to the Emergency Department for a simple antibiotic or infection, the clinic’s evening hours would be “revolutionary” for the community.

“At the end of the day, I feel satisfied if I have helped in making someone’s life a little better,” she said.

Her priorities for the future are to take on less urgent or serious patients from the Emergency Department to reduce long waiting times.

The Gympie Day and Evening Clinic will offer a variety of services including mixed bulk billing.

Dr Sana said mental health issues and chronic pain were big dilemmas, with a serious shortage of psychologists in Gympie.

She is working to introduce a psychologist and a late-night pharmacy to the same building.

Doctors who completed their 10-year-moratorium, a period where overseas doctors must work in priority areas, and want to move to main cities are large contributors to the GP shortage, Dr Sana said.

While she thinks her clinic will be an improvement to the shortage, there is still “much more to be done” as Gympie’s population continues to grow.

In their spare time, the couple enjoys off-roading and riding jet skis on their weekends.

Dr Sana had been planning to her open the new business since June 2022 and began renovating the space in November.

There will be two GPs available during day hours, then two in the evening along with a nurse and two receptionists.

The clinic will open on Monday with evening hours to start the following week. Evening hours operate until 9pm at 30 Excelsior Rd, Gympie.