The Snowy Mountains Medical Centre (SMMC) has been saved from what would have been certain closure, with a new general practitioner found at the 11th hour to provide essential medical services, help cover rising running costs and give existing doctors a break.

The good news comes four months after co-owners Dr Steve Breathour and Dr Michael Williamson told The Monaro Post the centre would be forced to close on May 1 due to a shortage of doctors and increasing costs of running a medical centre, causing panic in a community which had relied on the centre for several generations of family medical care.

Patients, the manager of a local child care centre and doctors all went on record with their concerns that the closure of the practice - which Dr Breathour set up many years ago - would have devastating effects, while the Jindabyne community came out in force with social media posts and letters to Members of Parliament and medical associations begging for help to save the surgery.

The Monaro Post ran a series of seven articles detailing the expected disastrous effects on the community of the loss of the medical centre, which had served several generations of locals and visitors. In response, Member for Eden-Monaro, Kristy McBain, said she had been in touch with the centre and would do what she could to help.

Dr Williamson said in December the closure of the centre would result in job losses and greater health risks for hundreds of local people and visitors and put extra pressure on the already bursting public health system.

"This will have devastating effects for both the town and our patients. People who are sick will get sicker as they won't want to travel to Cooma ED and will put stuff off. And chronic patients will have nowhere to go unless other medical centres can fit them in and even if they can, there will be long waiting times."

Dr Brenton Systermans, who works at SMMC, said he remained committed to his patients and would do all he could to serve them if the centre closed. One patient told The Monaro Post he feared he would die because he needed a GP to manage his chronic health conditions.

A variety of reasons for the difficulties regional areas around Australia have had in employing GPs was cited, including a lack of interest in the specialisation, qualified GPs not wanting to relocate, difficulty for GPs in training to obtain Medicare provider numbers, not enough incentives, housing shortages and the high cost of living in a tourist town.

Dr Breathour and Dr Williamson said in December that they had placed countless advertisements over a two year period trying to boost their staff, without success.

However, Dr Breathour has now announced he had managed to secure the services of a new female doctor, who seemed committed to the local area, and had decided he could hold off on his own retirement.

"I will put off retirement for a year, although I will pull back a bit, to two or three days a week, and with the new doctor, hopefully we can keep going and make sure none of our existing staff are working too hard and burning out, until we find a second doctor, which would get us across the line."

Dr Breathour said the new doctor had answered an advertisement online, and had plenty of experience doing locums and had lived and had worked overseas and would be a welcome addition to the team.

"I couldn’t bring myself to walk away," he said. " I will ease into retirement , which will give us time to find someone else.

"We've only just started telling people in the past day or so."

Currently, the surgery has Dr Breathour, who was awarded Jindabyne Citizen of the Year for his services to the community on Australia Day this year, Dr Williamson, who mostly works at the Thredbo Medical Centre and only does the odd day in Jindabyne, Dr Brenton Systermans and Dr Peita Lidster.

Jindabyne has a second medical centre - Jindabyne Medical Practice located in the Jindabyne HealthOne buildiing on Thredbo Terrace, but like everywhere, appointments can be difficult to get and SMMC's patients would have struggled to find new GPs with space on their books.

Dr Williamson said he was pleased that a new doctor had come on board and was hopeful the SMMC would be viable well beyond the end of this year.

"I have been very busy at Thredbo, with mountain biking now keeping us busy in summer as well as winter," he said.

"Not so long ago I was there for the winter only, but that has changed now and I cannot work in Jindabyne much and help out."