John Forrest (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to raise the issue of the need for a Medicare-eligible MRI facility for Mildura in my electorate. We have been lobbying for such a service for many years without success to date. I have written to the relevant federal minister many times, with the most recent letter sent on 8 April 2011 before the federal budget pleading for Mildura to receive Medicare-eligible MRI services as soon as possible. Surely it must be Mildura's turn. Our regional catchment for a Medicare-eligible MRI service incorporating Broken Hill, the Riverland in South Australia, Mildura and Swan Hill represents a population in excess of 100,000. It must be Mildura's turn.

Because of the lack of government attention on this matter, two businesses who need to be congratulated are in the process of establishing MRI machines in Mildura, costing many millions of dollars each without an assurance that they will qualify for a Medicare supplement. This will make it expensive for the people who urgently need access to magnetic resonance imaging, especially patients in hospital. I am calling on the government to honour the requests I have been constantly making by letter to finally give Mildura its Medicare funded MRI facility.