With all symptoms indicating that the Queensland Health System is sick and struggling, the question for the Queensland Premier and Health Minister is ‘what have you done to prepare for the inevitable arrival of COVID-19 in our community?’

 Hospitals are full despite the lack of COVID-19 cases, nurses face being sacked if they don’t get vaccinated and preparation measures appear to be minimal.

Given that we are now almost 18 months down the track, what has the Queensland Labor Government done to prepare for COVID-19 coming into the community?

I sought information from both the Mackay Hospital and Health Service (MHHS) and Townsville Hospital and Health Service (THHS) on measures taken in preparation.

How many extra beds are available for COVID-19 patients?

How many extra ventilators are available for COVID-19 patients?

I had a response from Townsville almost immediately but still no response from Mackay.

Repeated ‘Code Yellow’ calls in Mackay and throughout the state indicate how serious the situation is.

A Code Yellow essentially means the hospital is full and they need to find more space.

Apparently, we’ve had four Code Yellows in Mackay this year, and that’s with no COVID cases!

Given COVID-19 is endemic, and COVID-19’s arrival up here is inevitable, how are they going to cope when that happens?

All the Queensland Labor Government has done in response to COVID-19 is shut the borders, which is a temporary fix. And what we need is a permanent fix.

We know in Townsville they have 6 extra ventilators, an increase from 21 to 27. For a serious outbreak of COVID cases, we know that’s not enough.

But what has Mackay done to increase COVID capacity?

I would suggest that if it’s anything less than double what they previously had, they’ve failed.

One thing they have done though is threaten to sack staff.

I’ve been contacted by 12 unvaccinated local hospital staff who face the sack.

This all leaves us with serious concerns about how we would cope with a COVID-19 outbreak in Mackay, or Bowen or Proserpine.

The states are responsible for running our hospitals.

I would say to the Health Minister and the Premier, ‘rather than hold out your hand to another level of government that is not responsible for funding hospitals, tell us what you have done to get ready’.