People travelled from as far as Tumut, Leeton, Lockhart, Junee and Cootamundra to press their case for more doctors in their communities at a rally near the offices of the Murrumbidgee Local Health District on Wednesday.

The rally was originally organised by the Tumut Community Association, before gaining wider support.

Col Locke, from the association, told The Daily Advertiser the "main issue is that there's no doctors at the hospital when people go".

"Most days of the week, there's nobody on call, so then it becomes a real issue because in an emergency, the hospital staff aren't able to cope with it, the paramedics are brought in and it's a high-speed trip to Wagga," Mr Locke said.

"Now, there's no emergency, there's no life-saving care. It's a real issue.

"The health service is reliant so much now on the ambulance service and the paramedics. We've only got limited in numbers in Tumut, Batlow and Tumbarumba, servicing all that region.

"We've got big industries in Tumut and Snowy Hydro and a vast area of wilderness on our doorstep.

"It's not GPs we want, it's doctors in the hospital. GPs work all day, then they're on call. That's not what we want."

Regional parliamentarians Joe McGirr, Steph Cooke and Helen Dalton attended the rally.

Dr McGirr, the Member for Wagga, said health services were "absolutely critical" to rural communities".

"We want to make sure in our rural communities people have access to the best care possible," Dr McGirr said.

"Health services are also important for the economies of our local communities. We never should lose that from our sight: How important they are to our economies and to our way of living.

"It's often something that will attract people to a town and attract people shopping and businesses, so it's both an economic and a health issue.

"We need medical staff in these facilities. That is absolutely critical too. We cannot afford to have our health services run without the right medical cover around the clock. That is just a simple fact."

Dr McGirr said having functioning health services was "almost like a beating heart for the community".

He said there had been improvements in the number of GPs in the community, but more could be done, especially in rural and district hospitals.

"There are different discussions about how best to staff the hospitals, what model of medical staffing we want, and I'm happy to have those discussions and that will vary vary from community to community," Dr McGirr said.

"The underlying factor is that we don't want to accept a hospital service without the appropriate medical staff, and that is the message that I hope we will send forward from today.

"What we want at the end of the day is a strong commitment from all areas of health to future-proof our regional and rural communities."

Cootamundra residents Cheryl O'Brien and Donna Fensom made the trip to Wagga to air their concerns.

"We have no doctors at the hospital," Ms O'Brien said.

Ms Fensom was concerned about the impact of the current system on doctors.

"We cannot expect them to do 10 hours in their surgeries and then hours more at the hospital," she said.

Ms O'Brien added: "A lot of the time, anyone with an issue has to come to Wagga."

Member for Murray Helen Dalton said people who lived in areas like Hay or Hillston and were in need of emergency medical care could be faced with a three or four-hour trip to get to Wagga, often at night and when "injured or distressed", simply to access health services which "are their basic right".

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