CONSTRUCTION will start today on a state-of-the-art medical centre at Toronto.
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Toronto Diggers Club and Boulevarde Family Practice are jointly driving the $5-million project.
Toronto Diggers general manager Cathy Handcock said a medical centre was desperately needed in Toronto.
The new medical centre, to be built on vacant land adjacent to Toronto Diggers, on The Boulevarde, would help to redress the shortage of general practitioners in the area, she said.
"There should be almost 107 GPs for every 100,000 people, but in our community there's only 47 - that's less than half the number that there should be," Ms Handcock said.
"In talking to our club members, more than 60 per cent of whom are over 50 years of age, we also discovered that many of them didn't even have a regular GP.
"To make matters worse, only five of the existing 13 medical centres in our area even had their books open to new patients at the time."
Boulevarde Family Practice will be supported by Independent Practitioner Network (IPN), Australia's largest operator of medical centres, in planning and operating the centre.
The centre will provide a range of general practice and specialist health care services in fields such as family medicine, women's health, men's health, immunisations, mental health, skin cancer, sports medicine, chronic disease, health assessments for over-75s, occupational medicine, and WorkCover consultations.
The development will include underground parking for 36 vehicles and 10 more behind the club.
Ms Handcock said it was not unusual for licensed clubs to diversify their interests.
"There are clubs involved in aged-care facilities, in gyms, and even in retail developments," Ms Handcock said.
The club looked at a variety of potential developments for the site.
"Clubs are owned by their members and exist to serve their local community, so once we realised just how much a new medical centre was needed, it was clear what we'd use the land for."
The three-storey building will be known as the Alec Rice Centre, named in honour of the late Alec Rice who was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1982 for his many years of voluntary service to the Toronto RSL community.
Descendants of Mr Rice will be at the sod-turning ceremony today, Ms Handcock said.
The new medical centre is due to be completed by June next year.