The tender officially opened in April, closed in May and was expected to be finalised in July, but a government spokesman said on Friday it was hoped the first surgeries through the panel would happen this month.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the panel of public and private surgery providers would complement the changes outlined in the White Paper.

Tens of millions of dollars of state and Commonwealth money has been allocated to fund elective surgeries in the state over the next four years.  

‘‘This is a valuable opportunity to finally get people who have waited for treatment for up to 10 years off the waiting list and into treatment,’’ Mr Ferguson said.

‘‘It was anticipated that a number of Tasmanian providers would be well positioned to tender to be on the panel of providers, however the tender was also open to interstate providers that could demonstrate their inclusion on the panel would contribute to the largest number of Tasmanians receiving elective surgery.’’

The news comes after the opposition jumped on figures showing some outpatients can expect to wait more than 1000 days to see a specialist in the South.

Figures from the Tasmanian Health Service show that  non-urgent gastroenterology and liver, neurosurgery and colorectal outpatients can expect to wait several years. Figures were not available for the North and North-West.