Save Our Southern Hospital campaign ambulance "Cliff" visited Balclutha and Gore yesterday, as campaign leader Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich rallied support for the region-wide facility.
Meeting officials in Balclutha was Natasha Munro, whose 3-year-old daughter Sofia has an undiagnosed metabolic condition causing feeding and digestive difficulties.
"We were in the Dunedin Hospital recently during the floods, and water was leaking into a bucket in the ward. Sofia suffers from ketotic hypoglycaemia, meaning she needs the sort of complex care that can only be delivered by clinical professionals with access to the modern equipment and facilities they need.
"This is a hospital for the whole of the South, and we’re not alone among families right across Otago and Southland in relying on this new build coming through as promised."
Mr Radich said people from across the South were "right behind" the campaign to stop funding cuts for the new hospital.
"Politicians are saying this hospital is ‘too big’ for Dunedin. But the people of Otago and Southland know it’s a hospital of exactly the right size for the whole of the South, designed by clinicians, not by Wellington bean-counters. The support has been phenomenal."
Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan said the government was "mistaken" if it thought it could "play towns off against each other".
"Playing us off against Nelson, for example, just doesn’t wash. We deserve a hospital fit for the 350,000 people of the South.
"If Dr Reti thinks he can hole up in his bunker, maybe it’s time for Otago and Southland to stretch its net a bit wider, and make this about every Kiwi getting the very best healthcare they deserve, wherever they are."
Campaigners and Cliff will visit Invercargill Central mall today, from 11.30am.
