Patient care suffers
This pandemic has changed, not necessarily for the better, the way we practice medicine.
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I do not believe that telephone or video conference can replace face-to-face consultations. Can I do blood pressure, can I listen to a person's heart or lungs, can I feel a tummy (abdomen) remotely? The answer is no.
I am a doctor of 35 years experience and wish to look after my patients but not by video-link.
I accept the risks we take as have our forebears who treated conditions such as smallpox, polio etc before a cure, knowing that by doing so they put themselves at risk of the disease.
We have faced this problem in history before. Why close down normal medical care? It's a bad move and I hope it is only short term.
Peter Love (MBBS MPH&TM FFTM FACRRM), Albury
No game to play
Past utterings by the NSW deputy premier have left me with the impression that he is not the most sensible individual in NSW, which is a problem given his position.
John Barilaro says that NRL players are allowed to travel to regional base under coronavirus 'work' exception.
Let's hope there are people in the NSW government who can ensure that Albury does not get an influx of NRL players fully equipped to decimate our population when they bring their contact sport dose of COVID-19 to our community.
Maxwell Partington, Lavington
Another disappointment
So, according to the much anticipated Keelty Review, we need to teach water literacy in high schools. What an amazing revelation from the person in whom irrigation communities put their trust.
And according to his review we need more transparency from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. How long did it take Mr Keelty to work that out? The Speak Up Campaign was promised more consultation and transparency by the MDBA more than three years ago, when it came to Deniliquin, met with local people and acknowledged it had failed in the communication stakes.
The 'consultation' was more a case of 'we'll tell you what we are going to do, so just sit back and listen', and lasted less than three months. Do you wonder why we get frustrated? Do you wonder why thousands of people stood on the banks of Tocumwal last year, and later thousands made the trek to Canberra to protest against the appalling water management that is destroying family farms and the communities?
Surely no one could wonder any more when the review - organised by former Water Minister David Littleproud to appease our anger in Canberra - came with so many promises and delivers so little.
At a Senates Estimates hearing Mr Keelty thanked the MDBA for being so helpful in preparation of the review. Yet it's the MDBA at the centre of all the Basin Plan problems, as highlighted time and again in the numerous inquiries and reviews. The MDBA has failed. Yet Mr Keelty uses this organisation to help him prepare his report. Sounds like another episode of Yes, Minister or Utopia.