THE upgrade of the Monash Medical Centre would get an additional $177 million from a re-elected coalition government, while Labor has also promised a boost for medical imaging.
THE extra coalition funding would pay for a new dedicated children’s emergency department, a new critical-care wing, a new sleep laboratory and an early-in-life mental health service.
A helipad would also be built at the Clayton site along with roadworks to improve access. It takes the coalition government’s total commitment to the redevelopment of the major hospital precinct in Melbourne’s south-east to $550 million. “We want to make sure that Monash has the capital infrastructure to continue to deliver high quality services to families in this region,” Premier Denis Napthine said on Thursday. Work at the site is underway with new facilities coming online from 2016. Medical imaging at Monash Medical Centre would get a $16.2 million boost under a Labor government. Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said specialist consulting rooms would be modernised and 11 new outpatient suites would be added as part of the boost to services at the Moorabbin campus. It will include $4.4 million for equipment, including a new MRI and PET/CT scanner. “Monash Medical Centre is a world-class hospital, but with our ageing population, more patients are presenting with cancer – this boost at Moorabbin will help Monash’s dedicated professionals do so much more,” he said during a tour of the hospital with federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. “Our health system is in crisis, and only Labor will end the war on our paramedics and fund our health system properly.”