Charges have been laid after a doctor was allegedly stabbed at a Tasmanian hospital over the weekend.

Tasmania Police have charged a 17-year-old youth with wounding and two counts of threatening police after the wounding at the North West Regional Hospital (NWRH) in Burnie - one of the state's major hospitals, on Sunday afternoon. The victim, a senior male doctor, was airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) in a critical but stable condition.

According to Australian Medical Association (AMA) Tasmania president Dr John Saul, the doctor was significantly injured during the incident.

“It appears that it was some sort of wounding, most likely a stabbing,” he said. 

The youth will appear before the Burnie Youth Justice Court later on Monday.

Dr Saul praised the hospital staff for their response to the incident. 

“Staff at the NWRH handled the situation incredibly well, performed exceptionally well in saving this man's life,” he said. 

“This is tough when it happens to a colleague. It's tough when you have to perform the immediate first aid on a colleague.”

Dr Saul said he was confident that the man would survive. 

“That would be thanks to the excellent performance of the NWRH staff and the life-saving surgery at the RHH,” he said.

The Department of Health has made counselling available to staff, and the AMA's Drs4Drs service is able to help too. 

“It's incredibly concerning and really distressing,” the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s Emily Shepherd told reporters . 

“Many of our members are having to deal with violence and aggression in the workplace, and we are keen to see additional supports put in to prevent these sorts of incidents and ensure healthcare workers are kept as safe as possible.”

In a statement, Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said a critical incident response had been initiated, and support was being provided to staff and patients affected. 

“The safety and wellbeing of our staff and patients is our number one priority,” he said. “Professionally-trained security professionals are employed at all our public hospitals.”

Tasmania Police described the incident as isolated and said there was no threat to the wider community.