Liz Cunningham, the MP from Gladstone, has found spending on health services in her constituency wanting. And as a result, she says, the natives are left with no other option than to visit hospitals other than those in the area in pursuit of better treatment.

Emphasizing that the expenditure on health care travel subsidies by the Queensland Government was “unnecessary”, Ms. Cunningham said the need of the hour, in fact, was to upgrade services and engage expert doctors at local hospitals.

Noting that there were a lot of cases in the past that could have been handled at Gladstone hospitals itself, she said: “It would have avoided the cost of travel and of transfer and more cases, if we had the appropriate specialists visiting or resident at the Gladstone Hospital that's appropriate for our population”.

Ms. Cunningham said she had even raised the matter with Health Minister, Paul Lucas, who, too, recognized the need for specialized health care services in Gladstone.

Instead of spending huge amounts as subsidy on the travel of the residents, the need was to divert the funds for the training of doctors, making arrangements for the services of experts at local hospitals and upgrading infrastructure at local institutes, she added