General News
10 March, 2026
Second hospital ‘not yet’
A COMMUNITY leader, who for years has advocated for more health services on the south side, has accepted that a second hospital for the area cannot be justified for many years.
Mulgrave MP Terry James, who was a councillor, as well as deputy and mayor, of Cairns for more than 20 years, said he had always advocated for more infrastructure and services for the southern suburbs, “but we must understand the economies of scale and a new stand-alone hospital must have all the services required for a modern world class facility that come with a massive cost, which unfortunately, our current population on the south side just can’t justify for many years to come”.
“When we look at other comparative cities like Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Gold Coast – they only have one hospital. Some of the travel distances in those centres are either equal or greater than the distances to the Cairns Hospital.
“This doesn’t mean that we can’t provide more services close to where residents live.”
Mr James said on the southern side there was an Urgent Care Clinic and the Cairns South Health Clinic where the government is currently delivering on a key election commitment with new CT and MRI machines.
