AMA's Dr John Saul says now is the time to support Tasmania's public hospitals

The first question at Thursday's federal election debate between Bass Liberal MHR Bridget Archer and Labor's candidate Ross Hart centred around the AMA's ongoing call for the federal government to increase its share of state hospital funding by five per cent.

READ MORE: Funding still needed for numerous projects for Northern Tasmania

When asked if either party would commit to the funding, which would see state and federal governments split public hospital funding down the middle - neither confirmed.

Mr Hart said if successful at the election, party leader Anthony Albanese would be open to conversations concerning the issue, while Ms Archer agreed and said more money was not the solution.

READ MORE: Launceston couple hitting the road for good cause

AMA Tasmanian president Dr John Saul said like other states, Tasmania was facing a hospital crisis that needed to be addressed with increased funding the simplest solution.

"No one's prepared to give the simple statements on this, I feel no one's standing up and saying we need more doctors, we need more nurses, we need more staff and it's as simple as we need funding to do these things," he said.

READ MORE: Optimal Group buy land in Westbury

Mr Hart and Ms Archer pointed to commitments their parties had already made, including funding for hospital research, funding for palliative care and Labor's urgent care clinics as ways to improve the Launceston General Hospital, but Dr Saul said the commitments didn't go to the heart of the issue.

"It worries me that it's seen as too big, and it's easy to skirt around the edges with a promise here and a promise there, but we need real commitment to get some change happening," he said.

"A lot of people that are politicians don't seem to be appreciating the fact that we've had two years that have been the equivalent of a medical bushfire and we've got a lot of catching up to do.

"We just haven't had the chance to address it, and without decent support, we're just not going to get there."

READ MORE: Vicki Purnell to share cancer story to fourth year medical students

With the changes to the funding model supported by the state government, and accompanied by a commitment to maintain their funding contributions under the existing 45/55 per cent agreement, Dr Saul said now was the time to act.

Why not have your say? Write a letter to the editor here:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

Follow us on Google News: The Examiner