Thousands of Melbourne’s most vulnerable patients will retain access to their free medical check-ups for at least another eight months after the federal government and cash-strapped community health provider cohealth signed off on an emergency bailout package.

The $1.5 million pledge from the Albanese government will pause proposed cuts , first reported by The Age , to general practitioner services for low-income residents in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington until July 31, 2026.

Doctors, nurses, social workers and activists had threatened to occupy the Collingwood site and run a renegade health service if the planned service cuts were not reversed.

Cohealth told Health Minister Mark Butler’s office on Friday that it could push back the axing of GP services from late December to

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