Surgeries will be delayed, nurse and doctor numbers will decline and emergency department wait times will increase all throughout the Ballarat region, with the Turnbull Government cutting $5.71 million from local public hospitals from 2017-2020.
Turnbull is cutting hundreds of millions out of Australia’s public hospitals between 2017- 2020, with Ballarat Health Services facing a cut of $4.73 million, equivalent to 1,314 cataract surgeries or 182 knee replacements.
Over the same period Djerriwarrh Health will lose $800,000 and Hepburn Health $180,000.
This means that every public hospital in Ballarat will be worse off.
Member for Ballarat Catherine King says that it says it all about Turnbull’s priorities that he is happy to give big business a tax handout but won’t properly fund Ballarat’s public hospitals and give locals the health care they need.
“Every dollar cut from our Ballarat’s public hospitals is a dollar cut from our sickest and most vulnerable patients,” Ms King said.
“Our community isn’t going to our public hospitals because they want something to do – they are there because they desperately need health care to get back on their feet.
“They’re people waiting for hip surgery, knee replacements, and dealing with life-threatening health issues.
“Access to health care should be determined by your Medicare card – not your credit card. But while Turnbull’s prioritises defending big business and siding with the private health insurers our public hospitals continue to be put last.”
“Labor created Medicare, we will always fight to protect Medicare and we will fight Turnbull’s $5.1 cut to our region’s hospitals.”
27 MARCH 2018