Key Health Issues 'Missing In Action' In Campaign Launches, Australia

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 14 Nov 2007 - 6:00 PDT

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AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said it was surprising that health was not prominent in either of this week's major party campaign launches despite highly respected polls indicating that health would be a major factor in influencing more than a quarter of all voters on 24 November.

Dr Capolingua said it was disappointing that health hardly rated a mention in both Leaders' speeches, although Mr Rudd did briefly did re-announce Labor's hospitals, cancer and dental policies.

"Just ten days out from the election, it is amazing that neither the Coalition nor Labor has announced significant policies on aged care, Indigenous health, rural health, or public health programs," Dr Capolingua said.

"Aged care is one of the big challenges for our nation's future which requires significant funding and strategic planning to start now.

"Other than the Northern Territory initiative, which has bipartisan and AMA support, we have seen no new policies aimed at closing the 17-year life expectancy gap between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the population.

"There have been minor announcements on certain rural health programs, but nobody has yet come up with a coordinated plan to fix medical workforce shortages in country areas, maintain country hospitals, or provide country Australians with better access to quality health services.

"Major public health concerns such as alcohol abuse and binge drinking, obesity, and smoking have generally been ignored by the major parties.

"And we are still waiting on the Coalition's public hospitals policy so we can make a serious comparison with what Labor has on offer. Labor remains the only major party to have any plan for improvement to the public hospital system.

"Australian voters want to hear the full story on health, but I don't think leaving health to the last minute is a vote winning strategy," Dr Capolingua said.

The AMA will issue a Report Card on health policy next week.

The AMA's health policies are detailed in Key Health Issues for the 2007 Federal Election.

http://www.ama.com.au