Priorities !

Ask what is the most important function to be provided by the state government and you will probably get a whole range of answers.

A reliable and functioning hospital system will surely be very high on that list.

We have a crippled hospital system serving the residents of this state - because the supply of essential items such as bandages is often on stopped credit - because the health system is not paying it's bills.

The problem goes even deeper. Unpaid bills mean suppliers refuse to release vital items such as stents - required in heart surgery - because they are owed millions of dollars for long periods.

Lesser suppliers of services - the people who mow hospital lawns - the baker who supplies bread and rolls to the hospital kitchen - the cleaning material that keeps wards clean and germ free - wait months and months before the trickle of overdue cheques reaches them.

This is simply unforgivable ! Doctors and nurses have been reduced to buying bandages and similar equipment out of their own pockets - because without it the hospital system would grind to a halt.

The state government must put a stop to this dereliction of duty. As every household knows - there are priorities in managing money. The hospital and medical system must have first priority in accessing state funds - even if that means those at the bottom of the list have to be deleted.

It may means reducing the public service. It may means that money being allocated to sport has to be redirected. Worthy and important public facilities may have to be abandoned, but none of these come even close to the life and death importance of our hospital system.

The problem is that our state government is tending to spread it's responsibilities too widely. It seeks public approval by spreading it's money on popular causes across the bottom of the list - and as a result the hospital system at the top of the list is being starved of funds.

A rethink is necessary - to get priorities in the right order !