Health is serious business.
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“Politics within the medical community can be pretty tough,” Andrew Constance told onlookers at the opening of the new hospital this week.
Monday was an emotional day for anyone who has had to endure health problems themselves or seen friends and family members struggle staying healthy.
Growing up in the Bega Valley it was evident we lacked the infrastructure you would see on visits to larger centres.
I was aware the region sat in what was a “developed” or “first world” society, yet when I looked around me I didn’t see what I was told I should be seeing.
How do we not have enough doctors to treat people? I used to ask myself, until I realised the more doctors there are in a society like ours the less they are paid.
Our health system has always confused me as it lies somewhere between driven by big business and profit, and equality for all Australian citizens.
The big day overshadowed my confusion and showed me that little places can sometimes get big things for their tax money and hard work.
There is, however, the constant reminder rural people must feel lucky to have what is necessary rather than hold an expectation of equality with metropolitan areas.
It was a busy day for Pastor Ossie Cruse, who arrived after the opening of the Bundian Way Story Trail, giving a heart-moving speech of communities once relocated to rubbish dumps far away from the government’s health system.
“The whole nation is growing together,” he said.
After the fanfare and back-patting was over there was a chance to wax lyrical with everyone involved, but it appeared there was no time for celebrating – business never sleeps if you want to maintain power.
My local MP gently pushed me away when approached for comment saying he was in a private meeting in what I naively thought was a public space.
I already had my notes from a speech about x millions of dollars, but I wanted a quote that went beyond money and expressed emotion towards the topic of health, a topic that touches everyone during their lifetime.
At the end of the day you walk away wondering if you are just a political pawn yourself to be used strategically one move and sacrificed the next.
Alasdair McDonald