Cost of RAH - Letter to The Independent Weekly

I was disappointed to read in your May 8 edition of AM Indaily the claim by new AMA President Andrew Lavender that to rebuild the RAH would cost $2 billion. It is a shame that, so soon after taking the AMA reins, Dr Lavender has seen fit to toe the state government line on this issue.

The fact is that the RAH could be rebuilt on the present site for around $1 billion, a saving of more than $700 million on the cost of building the railway hospital (and more if one takes into account the, as yet, uncosted cleanup of the heavily-contaminated rail yards). That $700 million plus saving could then be used to address Dr Lavender's "concerns" about wider infrastructure needs, improved health facilities and more trained staff.

This seems to make sense to many of us involved in delivering health services to South Australians. We are only surprised that the government, and now Dr Lavender, can't see the logic in rebuilding the RAH.

James Katsaros
Chair
Save the RAH Group