General practitioners from St George and Sutherland Shire will attend an emergency meeting tonight to discuss how they will manage the worsening coronavirus pandemic.
The meeting has been called by the Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network and will be open to the five local divisions of general practice, including St George and Sutherland Shire.
St George Division of General Practice president Dr Wayne Cooper said the meeting would be somewhat of a "fact-finding mission" for GPs, who are set to find themselves at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus.
The meeting has been organised to discuss the latest developments in relation to the World Health Organisation-declared coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping the world.
"It's such an evolving situation at the moment," Dr Cooper said.
"The practices are trying to work out how they are going to deal with these issues and the problems they are facing right now."
Sans-Souci based Dr Cooper said GP practices in the area had seen an increase in suspected coronavirus cases in the past week as the looming threat of infection begins to emerge.
"It is a threat. It is definitely happening," he said.
"It is escalating. And my feeling is we will start to see this become more of an issue over the next few days and weeks."
Dr Cooper said the safety of GPs, nurses and practice staff was a major consideration whilst they go about detecting and managing the coronavirus outbreak, and would likely be addressed at tonight's meeting.
More to come.
