Thousands of newborn babies are missing out on vital neo-natal hearing tests despite Labor’s 2006 election promise, Shadow Minister for Health Helen Shardey said today.

In 2006 the Labor Government promised that if re-elected, it would roll out a program of neo-natal hearing testing for every newborn baby in 70 public and private hospitals across the state because early identification of hearing problems was vital in giving children the speech and language skills they need to make the most of their lives.
(Bronwyn Pike, Bendigo, October 30 2006).

Almost three years have passed and only a quarter of Victoria’s hospitals have the program the Health Minister should hang his head in shame, Mrs Shardey said.

The Brumby Government is once again failing the most vulnerable Victorians.

There is something very wrong with the Brumby Government when Bendigo where this election promise was made doesn’t even have a neo-natal hearing program. In fact all but one public country hospital has been duped on this commitment.

Four-year-old Bendigo child Jacob Floyd is one of many victims of this government’s neglect of the health system.

Born profoundly deaf, his condition was not discovered until he was 15 months old. His mother Andrea believes that if Jacob had lived in Melbourne, his condition would have been diagnosed earlier, which means he would have received therapy to help with his language skills much sooner.

Mrs Floyd said if the government had fulfilled its election promise, Jacob would have been fitted with his cochlear implant almost a year earlier and would be starting school next year, but because he missed out on promised healthcare his mum says Jacob is not nearly ready for school.

Now the government says the program will not be fully implemented until June 2011, seven months after the next state election.

How can the Premier and his embattled Health Minister expect Victorians to trust them when only 11 programs have been introduced since the 2006 announcement and 52 hospitals have missed out?

Country Victorians are sick of this government’s contempt. They deserve action, not empty promises, and the Brumby Government needs to be held accountable for its failure to deliver basic health services, Mrs Shardey said.