Tumut residents are agitating for a confirmed start date on their town’s promised $50 million new hospital.
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Snowy Valleys councillor Geoff Pritchard, who is also a medical doctor, said a new hospital had been “promised for ages”, but there seemed to be little progress.
Earlier in the week, Deputy Premier John Barilaro reaffirmed the commitment to build the new hospital, but did not give a date for the start of construction, which had originally been slated for 2019 when NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian made the announcement.
Cr Pritchard said the lack of a construction starting date was only one of the health issues affecting Tumut.
One of the biggest concerns, he said, was that no doctor in Tumut, or any of the surrounding towns, was able to do surgical procedures.
“A doctor and an anesthetist have to travel up from Wagga, which means there is no one here at night, and even their getting here can be affected if there is a problem on the highway,” Cr Pritchard said.
Member for Wagga Joe McGirr is also pushing for the State Government to stick to the original promise of a 2019 start to the upgrade.
“I don’t see why work can’t start in 2019,” Dr McGirr said.
“The Premier said she expects that, I expect that and the community expect that will happen.”