Page 750 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 24 March 1993
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MR BERRY: The waiting lists, which Mrs Carnell takes great glee out of, are in the public sector and not in the private sector. I note that there are private beds available for both Calvary and John James that have not been taken up yet. They have approval for them. So that clearly is not an issue and it has not been raised with me as an issue. I will be interested to see how it develops. One thing is for sure: We will be doing our very best to make it better in our public system for people of the ACT because I know that the people out there want a stronger public hospital system, and that is why we have been delivering it and rebuilding it. Where linkages with the private sector become necessary because of Commonwealth decisions, then - - -
Mr Humphries: Can we have an answer, Madam Speaker?
MR BERRY: I am telling you what I am doing. The Federal Government has been elected - - -
Mr Humphries: You are not telling us anything. You are answering nothing.
MR BERRY: You are the one who is interjecting. The Federal Government has been elected since 13 March, and the name of the Health Minister is just about to be announced. There were some promises made in the election campaign. You could hardly expect that it would all be fleshed out before the Minister is properly appointed, so wake up to yourself. I have told you that we will work on the problem. We will work with the Commonwealth towards providing better services in the ACT, but we will never lose sight of our most important commitment to the public hospital system in the ACT, and that it is the system that the people of Canberra most love.
Ms Follett: I ask that further questions be placed on the notice paper.
ARTHRITIS WEEK
Ministerial Statement
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (3.06): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement in relation to Arthritis Week.
Leave granted.
MR BERRY: Members, last Saturday I launched Arthritis Week for the Arthritis Foundation of the ACT. Members may appreciate that more than two million Australians are suffering from arthritis, an estimated 28,000 of them living here in the ACT. There are more than 150 types of arthritis which can affect the body's joints. It is second only to the common cold in the number of visits to the doctor each year. That means an annual national medical bill of $350m and more than one million hospital bed days. Our local medical bill runs into millions of dollars each year. These figures show up the need for more of the research dollar to be directed towards finding a cure for this debilitating disease.
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