Labor Senator Katy Gallagher has called the Canberra Liberals' plans to build two new public hospitals at Gungahlin and Tuggeranong "laughable" and said they would put lives at risk.
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In a rare foray back into ACT politics, the territory's longest-serving health minister said the $118 million plan was contrary to advise she had received around 2008 when looking at the best hospital locations.
"That work came back and showed very clearly a city of our size could only sustain two hospitals from a staffing point of view but also from a patient safety point of view," she said.
"The idea that you could staff four emergency departments, complete presumably with operating theatres, intensive care units, 24 hours a day seven days a week for a population our size is laughable, and at the time the AMA were very opposed to any further fragmenting of the health system."
The senator's comments were in line with those of health minister Simon Corbell, who on Saturday attacked the "pretend hospitals" and said anyone with a genuine emergency would waste valuable time being moved to a "real hospital".
Opposition leader Jeremy Hanson said the hospitals would provide an extra 20 emergency department beds and 24 short-stay beds, with pharmacy, pathology and imaging services also available.
Australian Medical Association ACT president Steve Robson has called on the ACT government to "step up to the plate" and support the Liberals' plan.
Mr Hanson criticised Senator Gallagher's record on ED and elective surgery waiting times.
"It is humiliating for Andrew Barr that his predecessor sees it necessary to step back into ACT politics to stem the flow of Labor voters who are rejecting his plan for trams and supporting the Liberals' plans to rebuild the Canberra Hospital and build two smaller hospitals in Gungahlin and Tuggeranong," he said.
"If Katy Gallagher and Labor listened to the experts like the AMA, perhaps we wouldn't have the crisis in health that has developed under ACT Labor's administration."
Liberal MLA Andrew Wall posted part of a speech from Karl Maftoum in July on his Facebook site on Saturday, claiming the Labor candidate's calls for an expansion of existing Tuggeranong health services was an endorsement of Liberal policies. Mr Maftoum, however, explicitly says his comments were "not about the move to build a hospital in Tuggeranong".
