“If we lose our hospital, and then you need it – it’ll be too late”.
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That’s the rallying cry for a mass protest planned for August 12 – with the MIA urged to rise up against the dismantling of a public hospital 80,000 depend on.
Jenna Woodland decided simply clicking “like” on Facebook wasn’t going to change anything, so formed a small committee to organise a peaceful community revolt.
“We need to make this a referendum on Adrian Piccoli’s representation. If he can’t reverse these changes, we should pledge to vote against his party at the next election”.
The plan is to hold a rally at 11am, Saturday August 12 at Memorial Park to call for an immediate reversal of NSW Health’s secret plan to downgrade the hospital’s pathology service – and to keep our pathologist in Griffith.
This will send a message to the NSW premier and her cabinet, with protests to follow when they visit Griffith a few days later.
Griffith Real Estate’s Nathan Thomas asked “if one day you need the hospital for an emergency, and the service isn’t there, how would you feel if you did nothing to save it?”
Ms Woodland said our representatives Sussan Ley, Adrian Piccoli, and Mayor John Dal Broi will be invited to address the rally, as well as opposition politicians, doctors and other concern citizens. A mass petition will also be organised.
Organisers are hoping attendance will rival the 5,000-plus crowd who took part in Basin Plan protests in 2011.
As the MIA’s population increases, its hospital has been losing services and specialists. Worse still, the downgrades are being made with zero consultation.
Ms Woodland said stopping the pathology downgrades needs to be the line the sand.
Real estate agent Brendan Catanzariti said the continual downgrades will shrink the MIA.
“Health care is the most important thing for families. People will stop coming here if we don’t have a decent hospital”.
Griffith base hospital staff pleaded with the community to support their cause after an extraordinary letter to Murrumbidgee Local Health District administration condemning the downgrades.
Ms Woodland’s team will continue to work on the details of the protest, and will provide updates on The Area News and Save Griffith Base Hospital facebook page.
In the meantime, she asks you save the date – August 12.
As Dr Narayanan Jayachandran put it “we need every family and their dog to stand up and fight”.