The silos at Milvale are situated on a set of crossroads.

Three of the roads leading to Temora, Young and Bribaree are all on tarmac roads.

Approximately 25 per cent of the Stockinbingal Road is gravel. About 10 per cent of that gravel is in he Young Shire section.

Once upon a time, the Minister for Broken Promises had a sign especially erected telling us that something would be done.

Pigs might fly too.

Both the Minister and the sign have since disappeared.

Why doesn't the shire buy a tyre service. At harvest time they would make a motza, especially with the truck carting canola to Milvale.

How is it that the shire can tarmac a runway at the airport twice, yet for 50 years not put any tarmac on a small length, leading to the Milvale silo.

I am no longer yours faithfully,

Smithy, Bullecourt, St, Cootamundra

A recent ABC Four Corners report states that if we live in or visit a rural town we won't receive the same level of health care as Australians living in capital cities.

Several tragic incidents were reported highlighting that patients had not received adequate medical care, and poor management and the distance from a major centre were significant factors.

During a recent ABC radio interview Chairperson of the Murrumbidgee Local Health District explained that people with some injuries should be transferred to a larger hospital to be seen by a specialist doctor, Tumut Hospital was without doctors for a few days and to compensate procedures to manage emergencies included telehealth.

We query whether the chairperson has been adequately briefed and understands our fears. We are without doctors for days on end. A situation which has extended over several years.

Transferring a patient to Wagga Hospital delays the patient being seen by a doctor by at least an hour. Australian standards state that critical patients should be seen immediately or within ten minutes.

Telehealth is not adequate. Prior to transfer to Wagga Hospital patients may require procedures including insertion of a tube for breathing which require a hands-on doctor.

Recently a child with asthma was taken to Tumut's emergency department, no doctor was on-call and doctors were too busy to provide advice via telehealth. Thankfully this incident did not result in a tragic outcome.

The health district's bandaid for our crisis is to implement nurse lead emergency department policies. NSW Health guidelines state that this model of care is for patients with less serious conditions and only to commence care while waiting for a doctor.

Long-term plans include continuing the current broken method of GPs being on-call.

We have a critical situation and we need action now. Every day that we don't have a doctor on-call is a tragedy waiting to happen and members of our community and visitors could die.

The Tumut Community Association is calling on the NSW Government and Murrumbidgee Local Health District to abide by their own policy of having the right person with the right qualifications in the right place at the right time to provide safe care for our community and visitors. We are calling for two full time doctors with anaesthetic and emergency qualifications.

To address our need we call on Commonwealth and NSW Governments to invoke recruitment and visa strategies to encourage Australian doctors and English speaking doctors from other countries.

We need 10,000 signatures for our petition which is available across the region. For information visit our facebook page or email Christinewebb7@outlook.com

Col Locke, President Tumut Community Association

WHAT DO YOU THINK?