I don’t often say this, but, I give up. I have been bleating about an issue for about twenty-five years. Since back when Dick Hamer was Premier of Victoria. And since that time political parties, both Liberal and Labor, have used a vital, basic, community issue as a point-scoring political football. Forget the fact that human beings, and decent human comfort is involved here.

I am talking about hospital waiting lists.

Over the years I don’t think I have ever had the truth from one Premier or Minister about it. When Hamer was premier the waiting list for ‘non-elective surgery’ as they so insensitively call it, was around 30,000. And Labor, in Opposition hammered him for it. Now in 2008 the figures about the same – nearly thirty years later.

And to make things worse Even these figures are fudged. And it’s not ‘elective surgery’ anyway. It’s non-emergency surgery. That should be applied to people who want a boob job or a nose change. I’m talking about people who need a knee reconstruction or a hip replacement.

Or how about other people who need dental or medical treatment, especially elderly people, to make their twilight years more comfortable?

Something is rotten, and not just teeth, when I get a call like that one from Jack who at 83  has to liquefy his food because he was told he’d have to wait another five years for a set of dentures. He said ‘I’ll probably be dead by then’.

You can see it now as his coffin is being lowered into the grave. Somebody yells ‘oh, by the way, here’s your new teeth Jack’. Luckily a community-minded dentist stepped in to help out.

To make things worse the Age has a story that the pollies are already putting spin on.  That story by Paul Austin says that the list of  people waiting for treatment at Victoria’s biggest hospital, the Royal Melbourne, is nearly three times longer than  the official waiting list declared by the State Government.

Officially there are  just under 2500 people waiting. The real figure is closer to 7300.

Outpatients spend an average of two months getting an appointment to see a specialist.  One outpatient had been waiting for more than two years to see a neurosurgery specialist.

One patient had been waiting seven years for a varicose vein operation. Another waited more than three years for exploratory surgery on the large intestine.

This is Third World country stuff. Health is suppoed to be a State issue but during the election campaign ‘Kevin from Queensland’ promised to take personal responsibility for health care.  Hello, Kev. Can you hear me?

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2008