‘If they can’t pay for the TV they can’t do anything’: Outrage as public hospital patients are charged $10 to access FREE to air television
- Victorian public patients have said they were charged $10 a day for TV and wifi
- Usually the provider of the television enforces the charge to patients
- Private patients are given free access to television and internet access
Public patients have been left outraged after being charged up to $10 a day to watch free to air television during hospital stays.
Reddit users have posted a series of comments detailing their experiences in different public hospitals around Victoria.
One person even said their father who suffered from terminal cancer and didn’t want to pay for the television fee was forced to do nothing but lie in his bed for two weeks.
One patient at the Alfred Hospital (pictured) in Melbourne said they were charged $10 a day for television access
Two hospitals were spoken about in particular, the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne and the Olivia Newton John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in the Austin Hospital also located in Melbourne.
‘Currently in hospital in the Alfred in Melbourne. You have to pay $10 a day to be able to watch free to air tv,’ one person wrote.
They claimed that because they had a serious condition and had frequent stays they were allowed to watch the television for free but other patients didn’t receive the same courtesy.
They said patients who were elderly and unable to navigate laptops or the internet were left with nothing to do.
Olivia Newton John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in the Austin Hospital (pictured) also charges patients for internet and television use
‘But I feel really sorry for the pensioners who aren’t so tech savvy who don’t have heaps of money, if they can’t pay for the tv they practically can’t do anything.’
Another person wrote about how their father who suffered from terminal cancer also was disallowed from watching TV.
‘My dad was in the Olivia Newton John Centre at the Austin Hospital last year. He was in a room with four others, all of whom were battling cancer.
People took to social media to express their frustration with the public health system
‘My dad was told his cancer was terminal and because you had to pay for free to air TV and my dad wouldn’t on principal, he had to lie there, in his bed for days, with the knowledge he was going to die in a matter of weeks,’ they said.
‘It’s disgraceful that public hospitals charge patients to watch Free to Air TV but to charge those that are experiencing the worst emotional turmoil to access the only thing that might offer some distraction is beyond abhorrent.’
One person commented that it was ‘beyond disgusting’ terminally ill patients couldn’t use a basic necessity.
Most public hospitals enforce the policy but the television provider is also responsible for charging the patients
A spokesperson from NSW Department of Health told Daily Mail Australia public hospitals in the state generally charge for television use and it’s often the service provider that enforces the fees.
‘Generally if it’s in a public hospital it’s a user pay system. Some health districts will provide it free but most patients are required to pay if they want that service.’
The spokesperson said it was essentially up to the hospital or the provider of the television to determine whether or not patients would be charged.
‘Generally they have to pay the provider,’ they said.
The Victorian Department of Health states on its website that public patients will receive free hospital accomodation and medical treatment but may have to pay for other services including television and internet.
Private patients are given free access to television and internet throughout hospitals in the country.