A GOOD general practitioner in the country is worth their weight in gold to their local community.

The country practitioner story "Going bush well equipped," (WT, April 14), I believe rings so true for our country town of Neerim South.

We have two general practitioners who have been here for many years and have been involved on local board and committees and who are only too happy to assist in supporting local community initiatives.

I have grown up with these two practitioners, first as a teenager new to the area and now as a mother with a family.

My family experienced a very stressful time almost six years ago when our youngest child became ill, and if it wasn't in part for our local general practitioner acting on her medical experience and instinct, then our youngest child would not be here with us today.

The next six months after this event were a very difficult period for our family as there was a fair amount of "unknown" as to what might happen with our child.

However, both our local practitioners were extremely supportive of our family even though many of our calls and visits occurred often at the drop of the hat, outside of business working hours and often in the early hours of the morning.

My husband and I have only the utmost respect and regard for our local practitioners and of how they helped our family through this trying time.

Thankfully we have had a good outcome and our youngest child is now doing really well.

I just hope any young doctors heading out to country areas have the same empathy, commitment and community focus that our two GPs do.

Donna Field, Neerim South, Victoria

Congratulations Donna, your letter has won you a Melbourne Aquarium prize pack.