CANBERRA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Wait times for surgery in Australia's public hospitals hit a record high in 2022-23, according to the peak medical body.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) on Friday published its annual Public Hospital Report Card for the 2022-23 financial year, revealing the national median waiting time for elective surgery in the 12 month period to the end of June 2023 was 49 days -- up from 40 days in 2021-22.
It marks an increase of 81 percent over the 20 years since 2003 when the median waiting period was 27 days.
Stephen Robson, president of the AMA, said the data shows Australia's public hospitals are at breaking point. The AMA in March called for federal, state and territory governments to immediately boost public hospital funding by 4.12 billion Australian dollars (2.6 billion U.S. dollars).
"Australians are now waiting almost twice as long on average for planned surgery than they were 20 years ago, which is unacceptable," Robson said in a statement on Friday.
"Urgent action is needed now."
Also known as planned surgery, elective surgery refers to any procedure that is considered medically necessary but does not involve an emergency.
New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, had the longest median wait time in 2022-23 at 69 days compared to the Northern Territory's shortest at 29 days.
The report found that the number of available public hospital beds in Australia grew by 1,220 between 2017-18 and 2021-22 while the population grew by over 1 million people in the same period.
It said that 56 percent of public hospital emergency department patients were seen by a doctor and departed in the recommended time of four hours or less in 2022-23 -- down from 61 percent in the previous year and the lowest figure on record. ■
