Eurobodalla Shire Council has voted unanimously to lobby the State Government to keep Batemans Bay Hospital Emergency Department open.
Under current plans the ED will be closed once constructions of the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital at Moruya is completed in 2027.
The motion prompted by a Mayoral Minute from Matt Hatcher.
“A large section of our community are concerned about this. They not only held public forums where there have been hundreds of people in attendance but also a petition with over 18,000 signatures,” Mayor Hatcher told the meeting.
Councillor Mick Johnson spoke in strong support of the motion along with several local community members.
Councillor Mick Johnson has spent extended time in several hospitals following a serious motorbike crash earlier this year.
“I believe we can have an emergency department at Batemans Bay and I believe we can have an emergency department at Moruya, level four,” he said.
“The fact that politicians are telling us that we can’t is because of their failures not because of the failures of the good doctors, nurses, orderlies and wardsmen, who populate our hospitals.”
