NSW: Opposition slams government over elective surgery cuts
By Melissa Jenkins
SYDNEY, April 15 AAP - The NSW government was "devious" when it boosted hospital electivesurgery funding before the election, only to cut it after Labor won office, oppositionhealth spokesman Barry O'Farrell said today.
Mr O'Farrell said only days after the election, the government reneged on a $7.5 millionfunding commitment it made in December last year to help reduce elective surgery waitinglists.
"This is a devious ... tactic (and) has to be the most cynical example of the cover-upsengaged in by the Carr government in the lead-up to the election campaign."
However, Health Minister Morris Iemma rejected allegations of political meddling.
"There is absolutely no evidence to suggest there has been any political interferencein the rates of surgery in NSW hospitals," he said in a statement.
Four orthopedic surgeons at Lismore Base Hospital resigned in response to the cutbacks.
Dr Mark Pearce, one of the surgeons set to leave the hospital in three months, saidthe health department last year promised an additional $800,000 on top of regular fundingto cut waiting lists.
"Less than 50 per cent of that has been spent on patients in the orthopedic department,"
he told AAP.
"Within two days of the election result that funding appears to have been withdrawn."
Dr Pearce said he had more than 180 public patients waiting for joint replacementsbut funding for the next three months would only allow him to do 10 of those operations.
"Patients in this health district will be waiting at least four years for a publicjoint replacement," he said.
It costs the public health system around $17,000 for each patient to have a joint replacement,Dr Pearce said.
NSW Premier Bob Carr today said it was normal practice to wind down elective surgeryprocedures over Easter and the school break because surgeons wanted to go on holidayswith their families.
But Mr O'Farrell referred to a memo from St George Hospital at Kogarah, in Sydney'ssouth, that indicated elective surgery would be cut past the Easter period until June.
Similar rollbacks were happening at Tamworth Base Hospital in northern NSW, and severalhospitals on the state's north coast, he said.
Mr O'Farrell said the promised extra funding and the ensuing cutbacks after the election,happened in areas where Labor was trying to win seats or protect independent candidates.
AAP mj/nf/sek/de
KEYWORD: SURGERY NIGHTLEAD
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