Surgery waitlist tops 500,000 as doctors plea for urgent action
A ‘critical situation’ is unfolding with lists backlogged in the wake of pandemic measures, a group of key medical colleges say.
Medical colleges are pleading for urgent action to cut public elective surgery waitlists, which they say have swelled to “critical” levels due to COVID-19 pandemic measures.
An estimated half a million patients are waiting for surgery, according to the AMA, RANZCOG, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.
