cost of
p. 35 · Read in the full issue
The cost of health
SPECIALIST medical services in Australia are expensive. Modern medicine requires sophisticated equip ment, and highly trained professionals to interpret the information provided.
Australians pay a health care levy which gives them ready access to the health system, but patients from the islands, in most cases, must pay for the care they receive.
“We are unable to treat large numbers of overseas patients free of charge, as we used to do,” said Dr Sholler, cardiologist at The Children’s Hos
pital, Camperdown, in Sydney.
“Financial problems within the health system have reduced our budget. Now, such patients are required to pay for their treatment.”
Before islanders can come to Australia for medical attention, they must guarantee all medical costs will be paid. In some cases, an advance
payment of anticipated hospital
charges is required. A visa will not be issued until officials are satisfied with the financial arrangements.
The standard rate for a stay in an Australian hospital is SASI2 per day.
To this cost must be added the fees of the medical specialist, surgeon, theatre fees, and pathology charges. A cardiac patient in hospital for seven days, who requires relatively minor surgery, may incur charges well in excess of SASOOO.
Travel to Australia, and accommo dation outside the hospital while waiting for surgery, are additional costs that must be considered.
The Prince of Wales Children’s Hos pital in Sydney has an agreement with some Pacific countries to provide medical care for a limited number of island children at a reduced rate.
“Last year we subsidised the cost of treatment of about 10 island patients,” the medical suprintendant, Dr Michael Bryden said. “We have a close network of doctors in the Pacific who know the type of patients we can take, and who refer these to us.”
However, with so few subsidised pa tients being accepted in Australia, it remains the responsibility of most to make their own financial arrange ments, or to be content with the level of health care available in the islands.