However, the funding promise of $156.4 million over four years and an extra 7400 surgeries and endoscopies performed has not yet cut to the crux of the problem - a stronger focus on preventative health.

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Health has largely been missing from the election conversation so far, which is curious, considering its importance to voters and the many issues that face Tasmania's public health system.

The system is drowning under the heavy load of an ageing population with more chronic health issues and underlying problems each day.

Recent dashboard figures released only a week ago showed the problem's full extent - demand is outstripping supply.

The figures showed an additional 477 people were placed on waiting lists between June and September last year; the total number is now 11,719.

The dashboard data showed that there were 12,000 people on Tasmania's elective surgery waiting list, which was concerning, according to the Australian Medical Association Tasmania president Helen McArdle.

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As she said: "... if patients can be managed outside the hospital, then you free up beds. And if patients can be discharged in a more timely fashion, then you free up more beds. So it's a combination of a lot of factors."

And while the promise will lead to 22,800 surgeries performed in 2021-22, which will clear the backlog, it doesn't address how to stop that problem from reoccurring in the first place. Dr McArdle said health should rightly be focused on the upcoming election because it's clear the system is under pressure. Still, clearing backlogs is not the only way forward - better out-of-hospital care could free up beds, and preventative health will stop any disease or injury from becoming a chronic factor in the first place - if it can be prevented.

We will wait to see if this gets preventative health gets the focus it deserves during the election - it's a conversation that's needed.