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Greens Ignore Country Doctor Shortage

The Greens have yet again shown their ignorance of anything outside metropolitan Melbourne , with no provision for health care in country Victoria.

By Parliment of Victoria - 8th November 2006 - Back to News

Shadow Minister for Country Victoria Philip Davis said today The Greens were too busy promoting heroin injecting rooms and prisoner needle exchange programs to even notice there is a critical shortage of doctors in country Victoria.

Just with every other policy The Greens have released, its health policy ignores country Victoria.

"The Greens have no plan for how to tackle one of country Victoria’s biggest health problems – the lack of doctors," Mr Davis said.

"The rural doctor shortage has become so dire that in March this year, there were more than 100 vacancies for General Practitioners in country Victoria, with the Rural Workforce Agency predicting the true shortage is twice that amount," Mr Davis said.

"More than 18 hospitals in country Victoria have abandoned their obstetric services.

"The country doctors we do have are working incredibly long hours and are often on-call 24 hours a day, because there are no doctors available to relieve them.

"The health system in country Victoria is in such a mess, yet The Greens have absolutely no plan at all to address the country doctor shortage.

"This proves to all Victorians that The Greens are more interested in playing politics and causing a stir with their loony policies than being a serious political contender."

Mr Davis said a Liberal Government would work immediately to address the rural doctor shortage and revive the health system in country Victoria.

"The Liberal Party has a clear, concise plan to attract more doctors to country Victoria and train more doctors into the future," Mr Davis said.

"A Liberal Government will attract 150 extra fully-qualified doctors to country Victoria, providing relocation packages, along with professional and family support.

"We will also provide 40 additional new graduate medical degree scholarships to train new doctors for country Victoria and expand clinical placement facilities in country hospitals and practices.

"The rural doctor shortage is a critical issue – any party who ignores it is not serious about a role in the Parliament."

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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