The Victorian Opposition Leader has said he will commit to fixing the Albury-Wodonga region's health crisis, during a health forum in Wodonga.
Matthew Guy hosted the forum alongside Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier and Member for Benambra Bill Tilley.
"If the government doesn't solve this problem, we will," he said.
"We need to fix the issues in relation to healthcare here on the border and it needs to be an absolute priority."
A new hospital is estimated to cost about $300 million.
In the recent federal budget, the Commonwealth committed $20 million toward the health services' future infrastructure, but the state government is yet to make any contribution.
"We're conscious of [the price tag] and we're not going to skim. We didn't with Mildura, we won't with Albury," Mr Guy said.
Community experience
Community members shared their personal experiences of issues with the local health service.
Wodonga resident Vicki said she was sent home and told to take paracetamol after presenting to the local hospital with severe abdominal pain.
She drove herself to Melbourne where she was admitted and treated after they found she had gallstones.
"I nearly died courtesy of Albury hospital," she said.
She now needs a knee reconstruction and said she'd rather travel three-and-a-half hours to Melbourne for treatment than access healthcare on the border.
Other residents shared a similar opinion and Mr Guy said it was not fair.
"I don't want anyone on the border to feel like they have to go and get proper health care by going to Melbourne," Mr Guy said.
Other issues raised were staff shortages and major delays, which Ross Draper from Baranduda experienced when he had a stroke.
"The medical staff are fantastic, there's just not enough of them," Mr Draper said.
"Being on the state border is always hard because one [government] won't agree with the other, especially if it's different parties."
Calls to release master plan
The Opposition called on the Victorian government to release the hospital's master plan.
"It is a public document and should be a public document rather than one that's hidden in the Victorian government's health ministry, never to be released, which is pretty outrageous," Mr Guy said.
"I'm firmly of the belief that it's nothing but political bastardry," Mr Tilley said.
"Governments can't make a determination on how much they need to commit unless that's publicly released."
At a press conference in Frankston today, Premier Daniel Andrews shut down claims that the government was politicising the issue by withholding the documents.
"Health's not about politics. It's about patients," he said.
Mr Andrews said there were no announcements on a hospital for Albury Wodonga today but said announcements would be made in the upcoming budget.
However, he would not specify if that would include funding for the border region's healthcare.
Mr Guy said he would return to the border in the near future to make announcements.
