THE Rural Doctors Association has slammed the federal government’s latest General Practice Incentive Program for failing to provide adequate incentives for doctors to move to where they are most needed.The program was designed to encourage doctors to move to regional and remote areas with a relocation allowance and to stay on with annual payment rises.The government introduced a remoteness area classification from one to five. One had no payment for areas considered cities and five was for the most remote areas, with an extra $13,000 a year.But the zoning has meant cities such as Bendigo are in the same category as towns such as Echuca, Bridgewater, Inglewood and Heath-cote.RDA chief executive Steve Sant said the zones were completely ridiculous and based on statistical data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics, having no bearing on isolation or the level of health services.Mr Sant said towns such as Gundagai, Echuca, Dalby and Tumut were all classed as RA2 and treated as equally isolated as Hobart, which was also RA2.“For example, in a town such as Bendigo (RA2), doctors would receive the same incentives as they would in a town such as Echuca, so there’s little incentive for a doctor to make the shift to Echuca,’’ Mr Sant said.“The program should have included factors such as population, geographical location, health services availability and specialist services needs, rather than boxing all the regional areas together under such broad classifications.” He said in several rural towns GPs were taking on specialist roles and additional training.“Incentives for GPs to move to remote and regional areas will remain low, when they can receive the same incentives in Bendigo, Ballarat or Shepparton,’’ he said.