Health services in northern Tasmania will be boosted by the construction of a new Renal Satellite Service for the Launceston Community Health Centre. The $732,400 project was announced today by the Prime Minister, Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mark Butler and local MP Jodie Campbell during the Prime Minister's visit to Launceston.
The new facility will operate six days a week and have the capacity for 16 renal stations that can treat multiple patients per day.
The number of Australians being diagnosed with kidney disease is increasing at the rate of six per cent per annum and the burden of treating these patients is already keenly felt in Northern Tasmania.
This new facility will help relieve this pressure, and importantly, provide high quality health care in a community setting. This is particularly important when most renal patients require treatment several times a week on an ongoing basis.
The approval processes for the Renal Satellite Unit will be completed during this month (October 2009) and the centre will open in December 2009.
The delivery of this unit will provide an immediate boost in construction jobs, as well as providing long term health care to locals.
Maci Constructions has been appointed to build the Unit.
The funds come from the Rudd Government's $15 million commitment to build an Integrated Care Centre in the local area.