Prime Minister Scott Morrison has claimed the medevac bill could disrupt the healthcare options of Australian citizens.
“If Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison want to claim that Australians are on waiting lists for elective surgery, are unable to get the care they need because of refugees getting treatment, that is just fearmongering,” Senator Keneally told Sky News on Friday.
“What they need to acknowledge is that if Australians are on waiting lists, it’s because the Liberals have cut hospital funding, they have frozen Medicare rebates, they have presided over the decimation of the health system.”In 2016–17, 695 public hospitals provided 62,000 hospital beds – around 2.5 public hospital beds for every 1000 people, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Those figures have remained relatively consistent since 2012-13, rising by an average of 1.5 per cent per year.During roughly that same time period, the number public hospitals around Australia decreased, while numbers of private hospitals increased, according to the AIHW.AIHW“Public hospitals can accommodate the health needs of asylum seekers without disadvantaging anyone,” it wrote on Twitter.
This is a baseless claim. Public hospitals can accommodate the health needs of asylum seekers without disadvantaging anyone. St Vincent’s is happy to make its hospitals available to provide care to asylum seekers without affecting waiting lists.
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