A chronic lack of dialysis services in the Border region has come under the spotlight in Victoria's Parliament, with the government being asked to explain what action it will take to tackle the crisis.
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In Victorian Parliament on Thursday night, Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier demanded the government provide the number of dialysis chairs that will be available to renal patients as part of the $450 million Albury Wodonga Health tower.
Meanwhile, member for Benambra Bill Tilley said it was clear that plans for desperately ill patients with kidney failure would not meet future needs and "even that may be subject to further cost cutting".
Albury MP Justin Clancy has also weighed in on the kidney patient issue, calling for "constructive engagement" to grow health services for the community.
In Victorian Parliament on May 2, Ms Crozier said the limitations of dialysis treatment on the Border were well-known.
"As reported in The Border Mail last week, a lack of local dialysis services has led to kidney patients in the Albury-Wodonga border region choosing to die rather than wait for dialysis," she said.
"A top renal specialist, Dr Russell Auwardt, speaking to The Border Mail last week, said his new patients were simply added to the waiting list.
"If the cases are urgent there is the potential to seek treatment in Wangaratta, which faces similar challenges, and the next stop is Melbourne.
"The 300,000 people in this Victorian hospital's catchment want to know what the government is going to do about the current crisis as well as future needs."
Mr Tilley said the original 2021 master plan projected the need for 27 dialysis chairs for the region but the latest planning for the $450m Albury redevelopment had reduced that to just 17.
"Even that plan is 'subject to affordability within the project budget'," Mr Tilley said. "In December Albury Wodonga Health advised the NSW and Victorian health ministers that the development is over budget, insiders suggesting it is at least $100 million short of what's needed."
Mr Tilley said the lack of renal treatment facilities had reached crisis point.
"People are choosing to die rather than wait for a dialysis chair on the Border," he said.
"A leading medico told me that the only way of getting a dialysis chair at the moment is if someone dies - nowhere should that be acceptable."
Mr Clancy said the "impact of gaps in our health care are most keenly felt by patients and their loved ones who have to travel large distances to receive their care".
"Our people should be able to access close to home treatments such as dialysis," Mr Clancy said.
"With escalating building costs, we need governments to come together and fund the full scope of the first stage, and to plan further staging.
"Half a billion dollars is already there. Delay is costly - to people and to the project."
NSW Health Infrastructure said the 2021 master plan process did not fully consider matters relating to detailed cost, value for money and affordability.
A spokesperson said planning for the Albury campus was undertaken by Albury Wodonga Health with that master plan but it was not approved by government and did not progress to feasibility.
