Dr Nilukshi Siribaddana has not been at the centre for some time and now operates out of a practice in Sydney called Stannum Medical Centre but continues to offer phone consultations.

Dianne Clifton received a surprise call from Dr Siri one night last week advising that her script would be forwarded onto the local pharmacy. A second call from practice receptionist Madhu, however, asked Mrs Clifton to collect her medical records from Stannum House across the road, which is also owned by Dr Siri's husband Dr Mohan Lal Siribaddana.

Dr Mohan as director of Nimos Health Care purchased the medical centre in 2015. Dr Dumindu Dharmapala, recruited in early 2019, launched an outreach service in Deepwater last year but it was short-lived.

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It's the arrangements for centre's file storage that worry Mrs Clifton, when she saw medical files and documentation piled up in a back room at Stannum House.

"My concern is the medical records and what's going on with them," Mrs Clifton said, "and that there's been no handover to another doctor."

Others have received no word at all and are wondering if their records are also being stored off-site, although they remain in the safekeeping of Madhu.

In the meantime the two remaining GP clinics in town, Dr Pilgrim's and Dr Mondal's, are continuing to take on new patients so the situation is less grim than in other centres where clinics' books are closed.

When the Naas St Clinic at Tenterfield Hospital closed last year Shane Hatton, CEO of Rural and Remote Medical Services which provided GPs for the clinic, said that in RaRMS' opinion the Naas St Clinic's closure would not compromise the care available for the small number of patients (three or four a day) who were accessing it, given the local availability of GPs.

Dr Mohan and Dr Siri have both been approached for comment.