March 15, 2016
Businesswoman Gina Rinehart’s $600,000 support for the South Burnett’s private hospital has helped to attract a Brisbane hospital operator to take over the facility.
South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann announced on Monday night that a hospital operator had been located.
However, he would not name the company involved until the deal had been totally finalised, possibly as early as Friday afternoon.
Mayor Kratzmann said he was always confident an operator would be found for the Lady Bjelke-Petersen Hospital, but the support by Mrs Rinehart – and the media coverage that this received – had attracted more interest.
“They approached us,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“It is one of the smaller day hospitals in Brisbane but they do overnight as well, and a lot of research.”
He said that because the resolution that was passed by Council before it went into caretaker mode was that the licence be transferred from Pulse Health to Council – and that this has to happen before March 31 – this licence transfer would still go ahead.
Mayor Kratzmann said health consultant Leith MacMillan had completed all the paperwork for the transfer and this had already been lodged.
After the election, it would be up to the new Council to transfer the licence to the new operator.
“It’s wonderful news,” Mayor Kratzmann said. “But I always knew this would happen because we were so close beforehand.”
He said the Brisbane operator was “state-of-the-art”.
Mayor Kratzmann said although the company operated a day hospital in Brisbane, this was not necessarily the model they would use in Kingaroy.
“But it will be all up to them,” he said.
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