Adelaide families and doctors are pushing for the state to establish facilities for paediatric cardiac surgery after four babies died within the past month.
This is due to children being sent interstate for each year for urgent medical care as Adelaide is the only mainland state capital that doesn’t provide paediatric cardiac surgery.
The situation has only become worse due to the coronavirus pandemic and sick children are being sent to Sydney instead of Melbourne due to lockdown restrictions.
Obstetrician Professor John Svigos said four babies who had died in Adelaide in the past month had been unable to be transferred and would have “almost certainly” benefited from on-site surgery.
The interstate transfers cost $5 million a year, and professor Svigos said that it would take $6 million and two years for the city to set up its own unit.
After the initial set up, it would cost $1 million to maintain, which would save the city $4 million a year.
