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Spend taxes in the public sector
It is of great concern to see the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine advocating taxpayer funds be given to further support the inefficient and expensive profit motivated private hospital system (Age 6/4). All those hard working Emergency Medicine doctors working in the under-resourced public hospital emergency departments continue to provide first class care to their patients with one major limitation; there are long waiting times. Now their College wants a scheme to use government funds to support private emergency departments' activities. This must mean less money made available to the public sector and the public emergency departments. The health budget is finite. So standards will fall in the public sector. But where do we all go in a real emergency? The public hospital. Even Kerry Packer was first treated for his heart attack in a public hospital. Choice is not an issue. In the many small towns around Australia there are no private hospitals. Choice is not an issue. The winners in such a move: the private hospitals, the staff at private hospitals, the shareholders in private hospitals, and a few patients who would get some tax support to jump the queue for health care. The losers: anyone (no matter how rich) needing complicated emergency care, anyone who cannot afford the private overheads, anyone not living in large cities where such private hospitals are located. We can spend our taxes better. In the public sector. For all Australians.
Tim Woodruff |
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Doctors Reform Society of Australia home page]
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