NEWS of the Federal Government’s $60 million injection to help create the Cairns University Hospital has been welcomed by the local charity that has been agitating for the move.
Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation chairman Dr Ken Chapman said he was delighted with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement late on Friday and by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s matching commitment over the weekend.
“This is a big step towards achieving what we have been working towards for some time – a full, tertiary level University Hospital for Cairns. It is why we fund specialist equipment and facilities like the electrophysiology cardiac catheter laboratory which will get that unit to tertiary level and why we are supporting medical research locally which is needed to achieve university hospital status,” Dr Chapman said.
“This commitment is what the people of Far North Queensland deserve. The Sunshine Coast, which has a very similar catchment population, has a stunning new university hospital and people living in this area also deserve that level of care,” he said. “We know how much this means to the community and the strong support and very generous donations to the Foundation particularly for tertiary level facilities like the Cardiac Catheter Laboratory shows how strong the community support really is.”
He congratulated Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch, as well as Advance Cairns, James Cook University and the Hospital Board for their advocacy and leadership and thanked the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition for their support of this wonderful initiative.
“Of course the Foundation now has to step up and further increase our support of vital medical research into local medical problems in a unique tropical region and so support a world class University Hospital and while continuing our funding of advanced specialist equipment. We are confident the community will continue its support and with our many active volunteers, donors and supporters we can make this happen.”
