End the blame game and shore up public hospitals

The AMA has strongly warned the Federal Government that it must accept responsibility to properly fund public hospitals, which are struggling to cope with rising COVID and flu cases.

The AMA has called for an end to the argy bargy blame game between state and federal governments because pressure on hospitals is ramping up with COVID-19 cases and the flu season.

AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid told Channel Seven’s Weekend Sunrise—later picked up in the Guardian—earlier this week that governments must stop the “blame game” and step up to bolster public hospitals that are buckling under high demand from COVID patients and the spike in flu cases.

He said the federal government had to “accept its responsibility for our national health system”.

Dr Khorshid said: “Having a federal government actually accept its responsibility for our national health system, for the fact that all parts of the system are broken at the moment. That would be a great start”.

AMA Vice President Dr Chris Moy said rising flu cases were a big wake-up call after what he said was mass delusion during the election campaign in denying that there was a crisis in public hospitals.

He told ABC News Breakfast: “Essentially, we have got this issue that there is relative complacency about both flu and COVID and we are careering into our first proper flu season for three years with...3000 people in hospital with COVID at the same time.

“They (political parties) have realised that they did not want to mention hospitals during the election campaign, but they know that was going to be the first thing off the bat.

“They really need to shore up the hospitals and back the Department of Health nationally to really make sure we get the boosters going and really invigorate the booster program and make sure we get the word out about these anti-viral treatments.

“So we need that word out there to get people protected, treated early, but they also need to shore up the hospitals.”