Northern Victoria Region
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (12:56): (1714) My question is for the Minister for Health. It was recently reported that a Bendigo mother waited 18 months to access critical sleep apnoea surgery for her three-year-old son. This was due to the fact that, despite being one of regional Victoria’s largest hospitals, Bendigo Health did not have a resident ear, nose and throat doctor for three years. Although I am pleased to hear Bendigo Health has now successfully recruited an international ENT specialist, there are still several other public hospitals in northern Victoria that remain without permanent ENT specialists. Northeast Health Wangaratta and Echuca Regional Health have no permanent or visiting ENT surgeons, with patients forced to pay expensive private providers or travel great distances to access public services. In my constituent’s case, she was quoted $8000 to $10,000 for her son’s surgery. What is the government doing to establish permanent ENT posts at these critical regional centres in Northern Victoria?