Cher Jimenez
Every Wednesday, Dr Hieu Tran prepares to see a different group of patients than he usually sees at his Latrobe Community Health Service clinic in Morwell.
Dr Tran visits Traralgon College and Kurnai College once a week to provide students with access to general practice as part of the Victorian government’s Doctors in Secondary Schools program.
The program, which started last year but had a gradual rollout throughout the state, involved 100 secondary schools that were selected based on socio-economic disadvantage and need.
Dr Tran considers his visits to the two schools “different” from his usual routine of seeing older patients and having staff and equipment around him.
He said the main issues the students presented involved developmental, behavioural and mental health concerns.
“One of the big highlights of the program was that students can speak about issues that they’re not comfortable discussing with their parents,” he said.
Dr Tran said it took a while for students to warm up to the program with only one patient initially showing up but now he sees five to six young people every weekly visit.
“Some of them barely said a word but when we asked them to come back they’ve become more engaged,” he said.
Dr Tran said the program’s primary goal was to give students easier access to GPs instead of relying on their parents to take them to the doctor’s clinic.
