The Hughenden Chamber of Commerce will move a motion at its meeting this evening to campaign for the construction of a new hospital in the town.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
President Pete Fornasier said they were looking to lobby local council to support and push the motion up all levels of government.
The town has a 24 hour health centre run by Queensland Health, which offers emergency treatment and visiting specialists, however, Mr Fornasier had heard of residents moving away from Hughenden due to its lack of health services.
"We know that we lose people because of healthcare," he said.
"We just want much better facilities, for example, you can't really get a decent X-ray here, that is pretty basic stuff."
Mr Fornasier said it is not uncommon for residents to need to travel to Townsville or Charters Towers to access certain services.
He believes the construction of a new hospital would be more useful in attracting staff and growing key services, rather than upgrading the current health centre.
"We hope to just improve the facilities so people don't have to run to Townsville for basic medical stuff," he said.
"If we had a nice new hospital, it might be a bit more attractive because our services have been eroded over the years.
"We've just got this deep down hope that maybe people would want to work in a brand new hospital."
Despite the building undergoing electrical upgrades on the roof and a new ramp, Mr Fornasier believed no steps had been taken to improve the health services on offer inside the centre.
"We still have no better services, and no better facilities inside the hospital. It's all infrastructure," he said.
"We need to get some new health facilities to help support our community to grow."
Hughenden Mayor Jane McNamara was unaware of the campaign when contacted by North Queensland Register.
She said council had been focusing its efforts on trying to secure two permanent doctors for the town.
But the Hughenden District Community Advisory Network had also been lobbying for an upgrade of the current health centre to ensure multi-purpose health clients had necessary accommodation.
"The Community Advisory Network have been lobbying for an upgrade to the facilities to house our six MPHS clients," Cr McNamara said.
"Council HHS and the regional medical recruits are working night and day to make sure we are covered.
"I'd be more than happy if they were going to give us a new hospital, but I'd like to think that the old hospital would remain and be used for consultancy and be used for travelling health professionals."
Queensland Health has been contacted for comment.
