There are concerns Western Australia's indefinitely closed border will discourage dozens of doctors from arriving in the state from overseas.
Emergency physician and WA faculty chair of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, Peter Allely, told 7.30 WA was very dependent on overseas doctors, particularly from the UK.
Dr Allely said dozens had delayed coming to Australia until after February 5, when they would no longer be required to quarantine.
"Now they are left in limbo," he said.
"We need to give them some certainty, otherwise they're going to work somewhere else I'd imagine.
"Why would they want to come and work in Western Australia when they can go to any other part of Australia and not have to hotel quarantine for seven or 14 days?"
Dr Allely said there had been a "flurry" of email activity from overseas doctors since the WA government's announcement last Thursday.
The WA government requires overseas arrivals to quarantine for 14 days, the first seven of them in a hotel, followed by a home or other address.
WA Health did not respond to questions by the deadline for publication.
"I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them just give up and try and get jobs elsewhere … which is particularly concerning," Dr Allely said.
The WA government on Thursday indefinitely delayed the reopening of the hard border due to the spread of the Omicron variant in other states and territories.
Despite WA having few COVID-19 cases, the state's health system has suffered widely publicised problems, including ambulances spending record amounts of time offloading patients and nurses rallying against conditions.
Dr Allely said he and his colleagues were as ready as they could be given the circumstances, and any delay should last weeks, not months.
"We want to be in the sweet spot where we've still got fairly good immunity from our second and third-dose vaccinations," he said.
"If we wait too long, we'll be in the middle of winter, which would be the worst possible time to open up I feel."
East-coast family says quarantine requirements 'elitist'
Many families on the east coast with connections across the Nullabor were left reeling after the WA government decided to delay the reopening.
Sydney-based Chrystal de Grussa and her family have been denied exemptions three times since the border shut nearly two years ago.
"It's been two Christmases now, multiple celebrations that we've missed, multiple milestones of my daughter that my family have missed," Ms de Grussa told 7.30.
Ms de Grussa is hopeful she and three-year-old Quinn will be eligible to quarantine for 14 days under new exemption criteria, but her personal trainer partner, Radek Jonak, who runs the family business, cannot work from home.
"Many people don't have four weeks of annual leave and two weeks to just sit in a house or in hotel quarantine," she said.
"There are so many blue collar workers and I think it's incredibly elitist to assume that everyone can have that option."
Premier Mark McGowan's office did not respond to questions by deadline.
The Omicron variant is already circulating in the community in WA. The state's Chief Health Officer has advised borders should be opened when WA reaches a certain number of local cases, but has not said what that number should be.
"We've done everything that we've been asked to do to get in to see our family," Ms de Grussa said.
"My father is high risk. So there's no way that I was going to come in in February and, in the words of Mark McGowan, just let the virus rip.
"As far as we're concerned, at this point, the only person that's gone back on his word is Mark McGowan."
