CAIRNS' lack of GPs is putting the hospital's emergency department under unnecessary strain, Health Minister Stephen Robertson said yesterday.

New figures showed there was only one GP for every 998 people in the Far North which was "significantly less" than the state average of one GP per 928 people.

Revealing the statistics before a crowd of about 160 people at the monthly meeting of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce, the Minister urged the business community to do more to attract GPs to the region.

"(Cairns) is not particularly a punishment posting," he said.

The low ratio was putting a strain on the Cairns Base Hospital’s emergency department which dealt with a 5.2 per cent increase in patients last year, more than double the 2 per cent population growth.

"(The increase) is largely because people can’t get in to see a GP," Mr Robertson said.

The comments were made as Mr Robertson answered questions from the lunchtime crowd after a speech that mainly rehashed last week’s announcement to sell-off the Cairns airport and use $450 from the sale to upgrade Cairns Base Hospital.

In relation to the decision to buy a future hospital site on the southside, Mr Robertson said strong opinions had been expressed about the need for hospitals "of the 21st century" to be co-located with a university.

"What is most important however is not necessarily where you locate it but it is the partnership you have with tertiary institutions to deliver the necessary education and training," he said.

"So you can have your cake and eat it too."

When asked by former chamber president Bob Norman for an assurance Cairns Base would be upgraded to a tertiary level, Mr Robertson said that disappointing as it may be, he would never provide any tertiary services that could not be sustained.

Using cardio-thoracic surgery as an example, he said it was simply not safe to offer it in Cairns because there was not the recommended volume of 400 procedures a year for surgeons to maintain their skills.

"Learning the lessons coming out of Bundaberg (a reference to the 2005 investigation into the alleged botched surgeries by Jayant Patel) and other places right throughout Australia, if you think for a moment that in my time as minister we’re going to go down the path of setting up unsafe, unsustainable services then that just is not going to happen," Mr Robertson said.

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