Chronic rural doctor shortage could see a virtual specialist oversee Katherine’s emergency room

Emergency room doctors and nurses in the Northern Territory town of Katherine could be overseen by a virtual specialist thousands of kilometres away, as a chronic shortfall in physicians continues to plague rural Australia.

Luring and retaining doctors to the isolated town, 300 kilometres south-east of Darwin, has long proven difficult, but the struggle has now reached new heights.

For the past five months, the town’s hospital — which services a regional…