Wednesday August 4, 2010
www.monaropost.com.au E INSID
Country Week
2010
$1.00 inc GST Volume 4 Edition 37 ISSN 1834-0318
See pages 21 to 32
Snowy Hydro airs concerns to Opposition Members of the NSW Opposition Melinda Pavey, Andrew Constance and Greg Pearce, together with Nationals candidate John Barilaro, learnt firsthand of Snowy Hydro Limited’s (SHL) concerns last Friday. They were given a briefing by Snowy Hydro’s manager, public relations and community affairs, David Hogan, on concerns the corporation has for its future while it is unable to compete in the National Electricity Market (NEM) and hampered in its efforts to build gas-fired power stations in NSW. Mr Hogan said while the corporation was excluded from bidding on the NEM, it had to stand by and watch while its competitors bought off SHL’s existing customers. He said increasing demand for power meant the corporation needed to expand its generating capacity and it was doing so to a certain extent with its Victorian power plants, but had been unable to build another two plants in NSW because of difficulties put in place by the State Government. He said while the Snwoy Scheme was once the pinnacle of power production, the reality now was
that it was being outproduced by gas-fired power stations. Mr Hogan said this alternative source of power was important in a time of drought, when in one year, SHL water availability was only about a quarter of its normal amount. Mr Hogan said Member for Monaro Steve Whan, had shown little interest in assisting the corporation and Member for Eden-Moanro, Mike Kelly, had also been disinterested. Neither member had accepted an offer from SHL for a presentation on its concerns. Mr Hogan said the coproation and its staff were frustrated by an inabilty to move forward because of the restrictions placed on it. He said SHL had 450 employees across the region, making it a major employer. He outlined the community work SHL is involved with and said if the corporation is unable to grow, community support might have to be reduced in order to remain viable. Con’t page 6
Pictured at Snowy Hydro last Friday, Greg Pearce, John Barilaro, Melinda Pavey and Andrew Constnace.
Cooma doctors lament lack of surgery
Drs Hamish Steiner, Greg Liao and Kylie Fardell outside the theatre at Cooma hospital.
There is an old axiom often used in medical circles ‘use it or lose it’. Cooma doctors are facing a ‘use it or lose it’ situation with the operating theatres at Cooma Hospital. Speaking on behalf of the doctors, Dr Hamish Steiner said there is real concern amongst the doctors that not enough operations are being carried out at the hospital. This is bad news for patients, but also bad for the doctors who need to keep their anaesthetic skills current. Each of Cooma’s two surgeries provides GPs to handle anaesthetics, but the majority of surgery carried out in Cooma at present is not allowing them continual experience with general anaesthetics, only the milder form which is used for procedures such as colonoscopies or gastroscopies.
AVON
Figures for surgery at the hospital from 2005/06 to present show real surgery cases have dropped from 529 to 365. While total surgery cases have dropped from 895 to 866, surgery such as coloscopies have risen from 366 to 466. Dr Steiner said local doctors want more and better use of the hospital’s operating theatres. He referred to the 2005-2010 health plan prepared by the Greater Southern Area Health Service. Recommendation 28 in this report states “Review theatre activity and develop a business case that identifies areas of need and a planned approach to service provision to improve local acess to surgical services and increase the self sufficiency of GSAHS”. cont’d on page 9.
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