The mismanagement of the Queensland Health service in rural & regional Queensland is a disgrace.
In the home of resource rich North Queensland all surgical proceeds now have to be performed at Townsville Hospital which is in crisis. Just 2 weeks ago the ABC ‘World Today” reported:
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“In recent days, Brisbane’s biggest hospitals have closed their doors to ambulances and the hospital in the major regional centre of Townsville has resorted to using conference rooms to accommodate patients.”
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TWO regional north Queensland hospitals at Richmand and Hughenden will close their fully equipped operating theatres. These theartres have not operated for 18 months after the QLD Labor government pulled the plug on funding the popular and very successful flying surgeon service to the centres.
The Richmond and Hughenden communities had been waiting and hoping that the service which had operated successfully for many years would be re-instated. Hughenden & Richmand are 400 and 500kms by road from Townsville.
Following on from last months announcement of the closure of the Aramac hospital the people of north-west Queensland are shocked and angry after the latest Bligh Labor Government health plan had promised to close the gap in regional health care.
In an email to Agmates QLD Shadow Health Minister Mark McArdle [pictured below] is scathing of the QLD Labor governments treatment of rural and regional Queenslanders:
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“The Townsville Hospital is already at crisis point and this incompetent Health Minister is just making it worse instead of taking stress off the Townsville Hospital by de-centralising demand for surgical facilities,”
The Health Minister’s claim that the operating theatres were closed because they didn’t provide any surgical procedures as dishonest and arrogant.
The reason these surgery theatres wasn’t performing surgical procedures is because it didn’t fund them.
This is another example of the Beattie-Bligh Government’s systemic withdrawal of health services from rural areas.
The Beattie-Bligh Government is killing off opportunities for accessible regional health services now, while it is spending millions of dollars on glitzy ad campaigns about what proper health services in 2020.”
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North West, North and Central Queensland is home to the vast fortunes generated by Queenslands resources boom. Last year the QLD state government collected $1.027 billion in coal mining royalties alone from the region. That figure this year is budgeted to explode to $3.213 billion yet the people of North Queensland have what can only be described as third world health services.
Those mining royalties have made QLD along with resource rich Western Australia the two financial powerhouse states that have largely insultated Australia against the world economic down turn caused by the credit crisis. Yet North Queenslands have seen there health services largely disappear.
It’s no wonder that the WA Nationals are the King Makers after the recent state election. They campaigned on a “royalties for regions” policy that promised to return 25% ($700 million a year) of mining royalties too the regional communities of WA.
If that policy was adopted in Queensland that would be $800 million just from coal royalties which would be invested into infrastructure & services in rural and regional Queensland each year just from coal royalties.
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