ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MRI LICENCE SCANDAL

CHRIS BOWEN MP.
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5 years ago
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MRI LICENCE SCANDAL
CHRIS BOWEN MP
Greg Hunt must come clean as to why he awarded a Medicare MRI Licence to SKG Mandurah, when Australian Electoral Commission records show the MRI clinic owner has donated over $500,000 to the Liberal Party.
 
The MRI Licence was awarded in February this year to the clinic owned by Sonic Healthcare. According to the AEC donation register, Sonic have donated over $500,000 to the Liberal Party since 2010. Two directors on the board of Sonic are also donors to the Liberal National Party and Liberal Party.
 
The Liberals overlooked around 440 other applications including those from areas of high need, while granting a Medicare MRI Licence to SKG Mandurah, located four kilometres from the closest Medicare eligible MRI clinic. 
 
Each awarded Medicare MRI Licence benefits a clinic by approximately $1.9 million per year.
 
This comes only weeks after the revelations that Minister Hunt awarded a Medicare MRI Licence to a clinic operated by the Vice President of the Liberal Party South Australia, Cara Miller.
 
Sound Radiology operates within five kilometres of nine Medicare-eligible MRI machines, while residents in other parts of South Australia such as Gawler do not have access to a licensed machine in their area. 
 
The Liberals awarded just five Medicare MRI licences in their first five years of power.
 
Minister Hunt must come clean about which clinics he is awarding MRI licences to and why, because under his watch out of pocket health costs have never been higher, and waiting lists have never been longer.
Health and Aged Care