The NSW government has said three-quarters of those jobs will be delivered in the next 12 months with 40 per cent going to the bush, but Temora GP Dr Rachel Christmas is sceptical.

"I think it's a wonderful idea but I don't know where they are all going to come from," Dr Christmas said.

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"If we get them from overseas, what are they going to do with their nurses?"

Dr Christmas practises at the Temora Medical Complex which recently successfully attracted UK doctor Sheraz Mumtaz to the town after running a high-profile social media campaign known as Temora's Great Quack Quest.

She said while GPs are primarily supported by the federal government through Medicare, what is often overlooked is their role working in the state hospital system. She said this is particularly so in the bush.

"The trouble is with small towns like Temora, where GPs like me provide services to the hospital, and in that role we come under NSW Health," she said.

"But if you don't have doctors in the community, you don't have doctors in the hospitals, so the state and federal governments need to work together on this."

Dr Christmas said the issue with the budget package is that it "talks about getting lots of allied health, nursing incentives, increasing the number of training positions," but fails to focus on staff retention.

"What are they doing to retain allied medical and nursing staff who are already overworked and understaffed?" she said.

Keith Fletcher, the CEO of two Riverina clinics, also recently raised serious concerns about the prohibitive rules around recruiting doctors from overseas.

In particular, Mr Fletcher drew attention to the blowout in wait times to complete the Pre-Employment Structured Clinical Interview (PESCI), a requirement for overseas doctors whose qualifications are not recognised by the Australian health system.

"Once upon a time wait times for that took a couple of months, but unfortunately that has now blown out from anywhere between six and nine months," Mr Fletcher said earlier this month.

But Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Adjunct Professor Karen Price said the RACGP is working to speed up the application process.

"We're currently working to improve our processes in delivering the PESCI to reduce wait times for non-specialist overseas trained doctors," she said. She said the COVID-19 pandemic also had a significant impact on the delivery of the PESCI.

A Department of Immigration spokesperson said the migration program aims to "address domestic skill gaps without displacing opportunities for Australians".

"The department only grants visas to international medical students and doctors seeking to practise in Australia if they are registered with the Medical Board of Australia," the spokesperson said.

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