SOUTH Australian health minister Stephen Wade refused to write a letter of support to the private Adelaide radiology clinic that beat out Gawler Hospital for one of only four fully Medicare-rebatable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) licences awarded in South Australia earlier this year.
Parkside clinic Sound Radiology is run by chief executive Cara Miller, who is also the vice president of the SA Liberal Party, and was awarded the licence in February despite being located within 30km of nine other MRI units across Adelaide.
Gawler, in comparison, is situated near just one – the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Elizabeth Vale.
Labor Legislative Council member Irene Pnevmatikos turned up the heat in state parliament on Wednesday, asking Mr Wade if he had ever discussed MRI licencing with Sound Radiology before the
MRI licence was granted by the Federal Government.
“Sound Radiology is a well-respected South Australian company,” Mr Wade replied.
“They invited me to provide a letter of support to their application for an MRI licence – I declined.”
A day earlier, Federal health minister Greg Hunt struggled to answer questions from Labor MP Chris Bowen during Question Time about why he had granted the practice a licence, and whether he knew of Ms Miller’s liberal links before doing so.
State opposition health minister Chris Picton, speaking to The Bunyip on Monday, said his federal counterparts will continue to seek answers as to why Sound Radiology’s application for an MRI licence was favoured over other regional providers.
“We were very surprised – particularly when you see there’s lots of areas like Gawler, and other country locations that don’t have access to an MRI licence and had been very competitively bidding to get one – to see that a licence would go to another inner city provider,” Mr Picton said.
“In the city and eastern suburbs you’re practically falling over MRI licences in that area, yet the vast
majority of country South Australia doesn’t have access to MRI.
“I think there were some very important questions raised in the parliament about this, and I think we’ll be interested to see where this goes in terms of how that licence was approved.”
Gawler mayor Karen Redman also implored the Federal Government to clarify why Gawler missed out, given the population it services.
“The north is experiencing the lion’s share of growth, so it stands to reason that we are supported with important services such as MRI,” she said.
“We know Gawler is a major regional centre, servicing upwards of 100,000 people, so it’s difficult to understand why it was overlooked.
“I’m sure we’ll get a licence once the Health Department gains an understanding of the needs of this growing community.”