Woman calls for healthy hospitals

By Melissa Meehan
KEYSBOROUGH resident Avtar Kaur is urging her fellow residents to voice their opinion on the state of Victoria’s hospit-als.
Ms Kaur made the call as the standing committee on finance and public administration prepared to conduct a pub-lic inquiry into the capacity of Victorian hospitals to meet demand, quality of care and the accuracy and completeness of performance data.
She said the inquiry would provide an opportunity for all those who had suffered pain and hardship while on waiting lists for operations, especially at Dandenong Hospital.
“I want to make people aware of the inquiry,” Ms Kaur said.
“I had to wait for two years for surgery and it is not fair for those of us who cannot afford to go through the private system to wait that long.”
Local MP Gordon Rich-Philips said latest government statistics indicated that Dandenong Hospital, in the past six months, treated only 34 per cent of patients on the Category 2 waiting list within the required time.
“This inquiry will provide an opportunity for all those who have suffered,” he said.
A spokesman for Health Minister Daniel Andrews said “the Federal Government and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare have said Victoria’s public health system is the best in the country.”
He said staff could be proud of Dandenong Hospital and the community could have confidence in it.
A copy of the terms of reference, guidelines for written submissions and other information can be obtained by contacting committee secretary Richard Willis on 9651 8696 or from www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council/SCFPA.