Shadow Health Minister Matt Kean slams Ryan Park MP over cardiac debacle at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick
Families in Sydney’s eastern suburbs “should feel completely betrayed” by Labor’s backflip on restoring full cardiac services to a major children’s hospital, a furious Shadow Health Minister has claimed.
Southern Courier
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Families in Sydney’s eastern suburbs “should feel completely betrayed” by Labor’s backflip on restoring full cardiac services to a major children’s hospital, a furious Shadow Health Minister has claimed.
It followed Health Minister Ryan Park telling senior clinicians he would not fund the revival of pediatric cardiac surgery programs at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick, despite previously supporting the move in 2020, alongside Coogee MP Marjorie O’Neill.
Concerned intensive care unit specialist, Dr John Awad last week endorsed Randwick Council’s move to write a letter to Premier Chris Minns and Mr Park asking to restore the program, which was supported by all but three Labor councillors.
Speaking to this publication, Shadow Health Minister Matt Kean said Labor “clearly lied” to the community and they “should be held to account for it” as it was “blatant dishonesty”.
“People voted for the Labor Party in Coogee on the promise that [was] made to them and they should feel completely betrayed by the Health Minister and Labor who never had any intention on delivering on their promise,” Mr Kean said.
“People have been tricked into voting for a government that isn’t going to do what it said it’s going to do.”
And when asked about the three Labor councillors’ rescission motion to be tabled at Randwick Council on Monday night, Mr Kean said they were “running a protection racket for a government that lied to the community”.
Mr Park told NSW parliament budget estimates last week the “issue should have been resolved earlier” by the “previous government”, but his decision to backflip was due to the “best advice” from experts.
According to Randwick Council papers, Mr Park’s “decision is based on the data during 2020-21 at the height [of the pandemic] when all surgical cases numbers were reduced throughout NSW”.
But, during Mr Awad’s address, he told Randwick councillors the hospital “receives 75 per cent of the state’s critically ill children that need retrieval to a pediatric ICU”.
He said “many of these children are at death’s door” and require “immediate access” to a cardiac surgeon, but, under the current plan, sick kids are forced to travel roughly 43km to The Children‘s’ Hospital at Westmead for vital, lifesaving treatment.
After the services were cut more than four years ago, it sparked a petition from Peter Low – which gathered 63,000 signatures – ultimately helping force the Liberal government to reverse its decision.
However, the return to full services stalled for years until Mr Park’s letter to the Chair of the Senior Medical Staff Council revealing medium-complexity surgery, including cardiac bypass surgery, would not be performed at Randwick.
It saw another petition from Debbie Issi, which continues to grow and sits at more than 14,000 signatures.
Like Mr Low’s son Cooper, her eight-year-old daughter, Alexia, benefited from the hospital’s specialist services, which as it stands are currently unavailable.
Mr Park declined to comment.
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