The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Member for Bennelong Maxine McKew inspected Royal North Shore Hospital’s new PET scanner on Friday 12 March.
The Prime Minister held a press conference (transcript below). Then Mr Rudd and Ms McKew spent 40 minutes talking and listening to doctors, nurses and hospital staff about their work and about the Government’s proposal for a National Health and Hospitals Network.
Ms McKew said the new scanner was a great boost for cancer treatment in her area.
“The PET scanner is very welcome news for cancer patients across the whole Northern Sydney region,” said Ms McKew.
“RNSH requested the scanner back in 1997. It finally went in this month, funded by a $3.5 m capital allocation through the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.”
“The PET scanner has been operating for 3 days, and is already making a difference in terms of diagnosis and patient treatment.”
“This state of the art machine will be used in early detection and ongoing management of patients with cancer and in patients with nerve, brain and heart disorders.”
“Health reform is a key issue for the Federal Government.
“I’m sure the people of northern Sydney, like the Rudd Government are looking for reform, and want concrete action to achieve better health and better hospitals from the negotiations between the Commonwealth and the State Governments,” said Ms McKew.
