Finally, months after the announcement of an MRI licence from the Federal Government for the Redcliffe Hospital, the Queensland Government has agreed to provide the machine.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said this is another example of Labor putting politics ahead of patients, in the games it has played regarding this important health service.
“Finally they have responded, just days out from the election. It has been through the hard work of the Member for Petrie, Luke Howarth, with his community that has put the pressure on the Queensland Government to finally respond.”
Member for Petrie Luke Howarth said this is a win for the local community who have campaigned hard to secure the MRI.
“I’d like to thank them for their support in forcing Labor to finally provide the MRI machine, months after the licence was granted by the Federal Government.
We know it will be fully utilised and this will benefit patients who will no longer have to travel to have tests done.”
An MRI is used for scans for a range of conditions including for diagnosing cancer, trauma and sporting injuries.
The Morrison Government is delivering an additional $600 million in funding for diagnostic imaging, including indexing the services to reduce costs.
We are delivering record funding for Queensland hospitals, including $10 million for a new Redcliffe Hospital new paediatric emergency treatment service, plus $10.5 million for new Safe Spaces as an alternative to hospital emergency departments, which will ease the pressure on the Redcliffe emergency department.
For the metro north region health district covering Petrie, overall funding from the Federal Government has increased from $507 million in 2012-13 under Labor, to $817 million in 2017-18 (growth of 61.2%) and is increasing to $1.275 billion in 2024-25.
It is with a strong economy we can ensure the essential health services are delivered, including our investment of $6 billion a year funding for cancer treatment, $4.8 billion in mental health this year and funding 2,000 new medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme since coming to Government. In contrast, when Bill Shorten was the Assistant Treasurer he stopped listing medicines because he couldn’t manage the budget and ran out of money.