Meet an Outreach provider: Dr Mohamed Shaffi

On behalf of the Australian Government, RDN administers Outreach services to help increase access to medical, allied health and nursing services for people living in under-resourced areas. The services enable urban and regionally-based health professionals to experience working in rural or Aboriginal communities. This profile article featured in Outpost, RDN's newsletter for the Outreach community.

Dr Mohamed Shaffi is a Sydney-based Neurologist who has travelled to Lithgow as an Outreach service provider for close to 15 years.

During this time, Dr Shaffi has delivered approximately 250 clinics in Lithgow for almost 5000 patients who have benefited from his expertise, knowledge, advice, care and, importantly, commitment to the region.

With support from the Rural Health Outreach Fund, administered in NSW by Rural Doctors Network (RDN), Dr Shaffi has increased the number of Outreach clinics he delivers at Lithgow Community Private Specialist Centre, including a neurophysiology service (nerve conduction study and EMG).  

“Covering some of the expenses associated with running the clinic was very helpful,” Dr Shaffi said. “I started out with one clinic per month and now offer fortnightly clinic including neurophysiology services,” he said.

Dr Shaffi says generally, he feels much more relaxed in a rural setting and that the gratitude his patients express for the care they receive is one of the many reasons he chooses to keep coming back.

“Lithgow community is great and appreciate the services they receive through the Outreach Program,” Dr Shaffi said. 

“The current clinic facility at the Lithgow Specialist Centre is excellent – staff there are brilliant and friendly,” he said.

Born in India and completing his undergraduate medical degree there, Dr Shaffi travelled to the United Kingdom for his postgraduate medical studies before obtaining an MRCP(UK) and moving to Australia 28 years ago.

“I did my neurology training and subspeciality fellowship in movement disorders here in Australia and I have been working as a consultant neurologist and neurophysiologist since 2003," Dr Shaffi said.

“I worked as a neurologist specialist at the Nepean Hospital for more than 15 years. Now, I do my own clinics.”

At last count, Dr Shaffi has made 222 visits to Lithgow to deliver Outreach clinics for 4869 patients.

“I felt the whole community is brilliant, respectful and makes you feel welcome. Patients in general are very nice and courteous in Lithgow,” Dr Shaffi said. “They are very thankful for the specialist services they are receiving.”

Asked why he decided to become an Outreach practitioner in the first place, Dr Shaffi said at the time, he realised there was a big area that was under-served as far as neurology services were concerned.

“After Penrith, where Nepean Hospital is, the next neurologist was in Orange!  I was thinking about opening a clinic somewhere in the high mountains, then this opportunity came up.” 

Dr Shaffi says a highlight of his visits to Lithgow now also include mentoring medical students as part of Outreach.

“I sometimes have medical students attached to a rural campus of a university at Lithgow. This provides a stimulating experience from an academic perspective,” he said.

When it comes to the differences between the city and country, Dr Shaffi says whilst the type of diseases he encounters is more or less the same, the severity of illnesses can be greater in the country.

“Generally, rural patients tend to present late, and this occasionally results in greater severity of the illness,” Dr Shaffi said.

Dr Shaffi says when it comes to challenges, as a speciality, neurology depends on good neuroimaging like MRI scans and, until recently, patients had to travel to either Bathurst or Penrith.

“Now we have an MRI service in the local hospital. Getting neurophysiology technicians for nerve conduction studies and EEG is very difficult. Hence, I do nerve conduction/EMG myself but could not offer EEG service at Lithgow.”

Asked why Dr Shaffi believes the Outreach model is a good approach for improving health access for communities in need, he believes there’s benefits for both the practitioner and patient.

“By incentivising the specialist practitioners and reducing the overhead cost of setting up practices in rural/regional areas, there is a bigger chance that the specialist will commit long term,” Dr Shaffi said.

“For the patients, especially for the older ones, having specialist services nearby is of great benefit - it also helps rural GPs with the support they need.”

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*RDN administers Health Outreach programs designed to increase access to medical, allied health and nursing services for people living in remote, rural, regional, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The aim of the Rural Health Outreach Fund (RHOF) is to improve health outcomes for people living in regional, rural and remote locations by supporting the delivery of Outreach health activities.