SOME of Mildura’s most vulnerable patients are being put at risk due to the reduction in flights to Melbourne as a result of COVID-19.

Member for Mildura Ali Cupper has called on the Federal Government to work closely with airlines including Rex and Qantas to ensure more return flights from Mildura to Melbourne and flights to and from Adelaide could be re-introduced to support cancer patients needing urgent treatment.

“My office has had correspondence about cancer patients being unable to get flights to Melbourne for treatment when they needed them,” Ms Cupper said.

“Some have been unable to get flights back to Mildura after treatment – others have delayed or just not been able to attend treatment.

“Some patients have had to organise road transport, which is far from ideal given the six-plus-hour drive each way.

“We have to ensure we do everything we possibly can to make sure cancer patients, who are immuno-compromised, are able to access the treatment they need in Melbourne.”

Ms Cupper will write to Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Federal Transport and Regional Development Minister Michael McCormack, the deputy Prime Minister, to outline the urgency of the situation in hope government intervention could alleviate the problem.

Ms Cupper said the current situation showed how vulnerable Mildura was with its connectivity to capital cities.

“We are really relying on the private sector to provide these services and it really shows up the lack of public transport options for critical care,” she said.

Ms Cupper welcomed the State Government’s announcement on Tuesday that recruitment of 120 extra paramedics would be fast-tracked and was hopeful the Mildura electorate would be in line for extra resources.

The government’s move to boost resources for Ambulance Victoria’s Adult Retrieval Victoria service was particularly important to seriously ill patients in the Mildura electorate who needed specialist care in capital cities. The patient transport service will expand its telephone advice service to also provide 24-hour telehealth, regional clinical support, co-ordination and critical care retrieval for the next six months.

The expansion includes more patient transport officers, administrative staff, medical consultants and registered nurses.

“The retrieval service is critically important to the Mildura electorate due to our distance from capital cities and lack of access to the level of health care of a capital city, so boosting these resources is enormously important,” Ms Cupper said.