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General News

16 April, 2020

Letter to Hon Steven Miles Minister for Health & Ambulance Services

Letter to Hon Steven Miles Minister for Health & Ambulance Services 1 William Street, BRISBANE QLD 4000

By Phil Brandel

SHANE KNUTH MP

15th April 2020

Hon Steven Miles Minister for Health & Ambulance Services 1 William Street, BRISBANE QLD 4000 healthclo@ministerial.qld.gov.au

Dear Minister,

I write to URGENTLY draw your attention to the complete incompetency and secrecy from Cairns and Hinterland Hospital Health Service (CHHHS) management in their failure to provide reliable, daily information on Covid-19 cases in the region they operate.

On behalf of constituents, I have requested, on numerous occasions a breakdown by local government area of new cases confirmed and those recovered from CHHHS management.

However only trickles of this information have been released, which leaves me with no choice but to report this failure of CHHHS management directly to you.

NSW health provide detailed data for the community, with figures provided for local government areas, which CHHHS management, for some reason has been secretive about and refused to release.

I cannot understand why other health service areas, provision of the number of cases can be broken down by local government area, yet CHHHS appear to be guarding this information like CIA operatives.

I am not pointing the finger at all CHHHS management, but the withholding and suppressing of vital information by some management staff, which should be made readily available to the public is concerning.

In my teleconference meeting last week, the states Chief Medical Officer also agreed the community should be informed of a detailed breakdown of cases in their region.

In this period of uncertainty, the best way to ensure public calm is to be transparent and provide reliable, up to date information to the community.

Unfortunately, CHHHS has failed miserably in that aim and I demand this be investigated immediately by your office.

People have a right to be correctly informed as COVID-19 does not adhere to privacy laws, it is non- discriminatory of who you are or where you live, so provision of reliable up to date information to those living in our state is vital to assist in reducing the spread of this insidious virus.

In light of this I look forward to a quick response from your office in regards to this issue and an immediate change in attitude and transparency in reporting of COVID-19 cases from CHHHS management.

Yours sincerely,

Shane Knuth MP Member for Hill

Silo Central Shopping Centre PO Box 1667 Atherton QLD 4883 Ph: 07 4091 5861 Fx: 07 4091 4675 Free Call: 1800 245 247 Email: hill@parliament.qld.gov.au

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