If you told us you didn’t think a whopping £190,000 salary plus three months holiday was a good job offer, we’d probably tell you to see a doctor.
Dr Alan Kenny of Tokoroa, New Zealand, to be exact - as for the best part of two years he's been dangling this pay packet in a bid to attract a young GP to work in his small-town clinic.
Incredibly, in the past four months Kenny has not received a single application for the permanent position, and even been forced to advertise on online job sites when four medical recruitment firms proved unable to help.
If the $400,000 NZ dollars weren’t enough, Kenny also promised no weekend or night work. Which makes you wonder why no one’s biting…
So what’s the catch? According to Kenny, one major reason he can’t attract all the young talent is because they’re regularly drawn to the bright lights of Auckland, the most popular urban spread in the country:
"Auckland has the biggest medical school and most kids who go to medical school come from wealthy families in the Auckland area," Dr Kenny told the NZ Herald.
"If they recruited more students from rural areas, they might actually come here. It's a huge problem to find replacements or find locums. Last year, I cancelled a holiday because I couldn't get a locum ... and this year I am probably going to have to cancel a holiday... and it's just tough for me," he added.
And then there’s the workload…
The success of Kenny’s clinic has meant it now has 6,000 patients, hence why Dr Kenny, who says he sees roughly 43 patients a day (almost double the suggested number by the Royal College of GPs of 25) hence why he's offering such a big wage to help keep up with the massive workload.
"I can offer them a really, really amazing income; it's incredible. My practice has exploded in the last year and the more patients you list, the more money you get. But it just gets too much at the end of the day."
Need we give you another reason to head over there right now? Okay, well how about the despicably low house prices; with the town's median income just $17,300 for people aged 15 and over, you’ll be able to find some of the best real estate deals in the country.
Then again, by the time anyone takes this job, Kenny will probably have thrown in a gold-plated mansion with crocodile infested moat.
[Via: New Zealand Herald]
