It comes as the government considers whether to proceed with a scaled-down version of the new Dunedin hospital project, or a retrofit of the existing hospital.
Dr Reti was questioned by Taieri MP Ingrid Leary at yesterday’s health select committee meeting.
She asked whether Dr Reti could promise the government would not sell the outpatient building to pay for the inpatient building when a decision on the inpatient building arrived.
She then put it to Dr Reti: "Do you hate Dunedin, given the promises that were made before the election ... and the fact you don’t come down to the city and speak to the people there and show some accountability for the appalling decisions that have been made?"
Dr Reti responded that the "appalling decisions" of the previous five years under the Labour government had to be taken into consideration.
He said he and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop visited Dunedin in September to explain the "tough decisions" because they could not let the cost of the project escalate.
He also said he had not seen any plans to sell the outpatient building.
"I have seen no discussions or seen any evidence to that effect," he said.
The government announced in September it would either scale down the new Dunedin hospital project, or retrofit the existing hospital. It has set the budget for the project at $1.88 billion.
Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora staff are working on the options to present to the government.
When the Otago Daily Times asked HNZ yesterday about when it would hand over its advice, infrastructure lead Blake Lepper said it could not comment on when this advice would be released to the public as this would be up to ministers to determine "once they have considered the information provided".
A spokeswoman for Dr Reti’s office said the ministers looked forward to "receiving advice from officials, who are currently working at pace".
"We all look forward to getting on with the job of delivering a great hospital for Dunedin and the South."
Meanwhile, as part of the Save our Southern Hospital (SOS Hospital) campaign, 20 Santas gathered at the Richard Seddon statue on Parliament’s grounds yesterday.
The Christmas visit comes hot on the heels of the presentation of the 34,400-strong nurses’ petition to government, a town hall meeting and a public march that attracted an estimated 35,000 people.
While no government MPs attended the presentation, several opposition MPs did, including Dunedin MP Rachel Brooking and Ms Leary.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich warned the prospect of having three disconnected buildings make up the new hospital would be "highly unpalatable" to the public.
"It doesn’t fit at all with the promises made, and the people of the South will react very badly if that is what they come up with."
