Eastern Victoria Region
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (14:55): (659) My question is to the Minister for Health. A Langwarrin constituent of mine has gone into complete renal failure only recently. He requires kidney dialysis three times per week, and he is waiting on a kidney transplant. Dialysis is an outpatient service and takes up to half a day, and the closest hospital to my Langwarrin constituent is Frankston, which has eight units – or seats – for the dialysis unit and is overseen by the Alfred hospital. The dialysis is oversubscribed, and his life now consists of waiting for a phone call from the bed coordinator, who is in the unenviable position of trying to find more dialysis units than they have available. He also thanks the hardworking people at the hospital, which is chronically underfunded in our system. I want to know and my constituent wants to know: will the minister increase funding to increase the dialysis units in the Frankston Hospital to support kidney dialysis?