Labor claims underspending in Federal health budgets
Labor’s Shadow Health Minister, Julia Gillard, has claimed ‘massive’ underspending in various programs in the Federal health budget. She said the Pharmaceutical budget was underspent by $67 million in 2004-05 and almost $8 million in 2005-06. The Health Department says this was due to a lower than expected demand for arthritis, anti-depressants and cholesterol lowering drugs.
Other areas of underspending included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, the Primary Care Strategies program which encourages doctors to go to outer metropolitan areas, training for after hours and rural and remote general practitioners and on the avian flu program.
The figures were supplied in Senate Estimates hearings on health expenditures.
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