In 2023, as RACGP WA Chair, Ramya secured written confirmation from the WA Government that WA would not follow other states in imposing a new payroll tax burden on independent GP arrangements. As a practice owner, I understand what it means to run on thin margins – this is a power example of sustained advocacy on behalf of GPs
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In 2025, Ramya was instrumental in securing $1.3 million to help kick-start GP ADHD diagnosis and prescribing in WA.

This was practical investment for better access to care after deliberate advocacy on behalf of members. This advocacy also ensured additional support for GPs including renumeration of their time when taking on additional ADHD care training.

For patients, it means improved access. For GPs, it reinforces an important principle: reform must be properly resourced, not simply shifted into the consulting room.

Ramya played a key advocacy role in securing a funding reprieve for the Albany After Hours GP Clinic, following strong community and RACGP WA advocacy.

The clinic provides timely after-hours care for the Albany community while easing pressure on the local emergency department. Importantly, it keeps urgent care connected to general practice, with consultation summaries sent back to patients’ regular GPs to support continuity and reduce fragmentation.

During a regional WA visit, Ramya and RACGP leadership met with local GPs and the Member for Albany to raise concerns about the clinic’s future. She continued to advocate after returning to Perth, helping ensure the community’s needs were heard. The funding reprieve was a welcome win for patients, local GPs and the broader Albany health system. But Ramya has also been clear that short-term funding cycles are not enough. Rural and regional communities need long-term certainty to plan workforce, infrastructure and service delivery.

This advocacy reflects Ramya’s broader position: after-hours and urgent care should strengthen general practice, not bypass it.

Ramya has secured several rounds of practical grant support for general practices. This includes over $1 million in 2026 alone in practice grants for winter vaccination clinics across WA.

Over multiple years, these grants represent meaningful support for frontline general practice.

The principle matters: practices need practical investment, not just policy announcements.

Ramya helped secure an ongoing funding agreement with the WA Department of Health, ensuring GPs are appropriately remunerated for their time when invited to contribute to department-led meetings, consultations and advisory groups

This agreement recognises that meaningful engagement with general practice cannot rely on goodwill alone. It also strengthens collaboration between general practice, primary care and the hospital system, creating more structured opportunities for GPs to inform policy, service design and system reform.

As part of the RACGP leadership team, Ramya contributed to advocacy for the $220 million Strengthening Medicare General Practice Grants Program, which delivered direct infrastructure support to practices and eligible ACCHOs across Australia.

The program recognised that general practice needed more than thanks after the pandemic. Practices had carried significant clinical, workforce and operational pressure through COVID-19, vaccination delivery, delayed care, rising mental health demand and increasing patient complexity.

The grants provided practical funding for equipment, digital capability, infection prevention and control, accreditation and minor capital works.