MARK M ALDRIDGE Independent - New RAH, A COST TOO HIGH ?                 a.userlink { color: #253741; } a.userlink:visited { color: #6a818c; } a.userlink:hover { color: #005e85; } font[size="1"] { font-size:10px; } font[size="2"] { font-size:13px; } font[size="3"] { font-size:16px; } font[size="4"] { font-size:18px; } font[size="5"] { font-size:24px; } font[size="6"] { font-size:32px; } font[size="7"] { font-size:48px; } .GuestBookMessage { font-family: Arial; color: #000000; font-size: 13px; } .GuestBookMessageRow { font-family: Arial; color: #000000; font-size: 12px; } .GuestBookHeader { font-family: Arial; color: #000000; font-size: 12px; }                                                                                                                 LABOR'S HOSPITAL DEBACLE, IS THE COST TO HIGH?While renovations continue on the present RAH, one may wonder why, if it is to be mothballed, yet while the waste continues so does the incompetence of the South Australian Labor government, with more budget blow outs being swept under the rug, says Mark Aldridge 1 Billion dollars to build is a massive amount when we consider the state of the economy not that bothers Labor, they intend to borrow the money, even worse they will let a private firm run the new hospital, so dare we ask what that will cost?The present RAH costs a little under $300,000 a day to run, yet John Hill has made it clear that the new hospital will cost over 1 million dollars a day to run, so who is picking up the tab, $700,000 a day has to come from somewhere, so does the interest on the money borrowed and the profits for the new owners.All this pain and suffering, the years of debate, and yet the new hospital will have less beds than we currently enjoy, does that mean it will service less people, maybe we are aiming at a lower population quota, or is the word inept accompanied by the word Labor in the dictionary?The present hospital is situated in the Adelaide Park Lands on the north side of North Terrace between Frome Road and the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. The location is idea situated next to the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. The land which it covers is also home to the Adelaide Medical School, the Adelaide Dental Hospital, The Hanson Institute and the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science. The new location has its share of issues from contamination to local access, unless of course one is to catch a train to the emergency department, an investment as massive as this, should have meant a huge improvement beyond looks and that new hospital smell.Lower overheads, a suitable increase in beds to match population growth, or at the very least easy access, but as usual it is all about bragging rights and work for Labors many corporate sponsors.New wings to existing hospitals would have increased beds, been much more cost effective and allowed easier access, but in any event with recent cut backs to our health system we would have no hope of manning any increase, and here is me thinking an aging population would increase the need for genuine health services, with population growth in the same thought.So it will cost we the tax payer a fortune to build, cost us a quid to pay off, even more in overheads and then we have to pay another huge profits to boot, all this for less services, the icing on the cake is we pay our supposed representatives a fortune to come up with this stupid recycled idea.Labor promised us a new hospital in 2007, 5 years later and a few million dollars in blow outs and it will be on its way, just in time to be sold for the third time as an election promise, without any mention of where the $700,000 a day in extra running costs is coming from I bet.  Mark Aldridge Independent and Community activist                      Website Builder provided by Vistaprint