Chapter 72: To be rich, start by building roads.
“What about the situation in the medical sector? How many hospitals have been built in the past year?” Arthur asked.
Like education, medical care is a major concern for the well-being of the people. Similarly, it is also one of the important factors for immigrants choosing their destination.
After all, no one wants to live in a place where education and healthcare are lagging. Even if it is not for their own sake, they must also consider their family and offspring.
“Your Highness, up to now, we have built one hospital in each of the six states. However, due to the shortage of medical equipment and doctors, most hospitals can only accept ordinary patients and cannot handle more difficult diseases,” said Minister Bradford Dillman of Health with a bitter smile.
The medical sector is one of the areas with the lowest focus in Australia at present. In addition, Arthur has not made additional investments, resulting in a rather bad situation faced by the medical sector. Even if hospitals are built, there is not enough doctors to work and allow the hospitals to function normally.
“Include medical major in our technical schools as well. The medical industry is also an important part of Australia’s development, and we must ensure that there are enough doctors in major hospitals in Australia to meet the medical needs of the Australian people. In addition, the pace of attracting talent from Europe should not stop. The Ministry of Health can apply for funds and cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attract some medical talents from major European countries, especially the United Kingdom and Germany, to join us,” Arthur said after some thought.
Medical care is one of the problems that must be solved as soon as possible. This is not only related to the survival rate of newborns in Australia but also concerns the livelihood issues of all Australians.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Bradford Dillman replied with a slightly better expression and quickly responded.
“The plan to build hospitals can be temporarily halted. Having one hospital in each state is temporarily sufficient for us. I hope that the Ministry of Health’s work in the future can be focused on the construction of small clinics. I want to see small clinics in every city, as that is what can improve the medical environment in Australia,” Arthur said.
Although hospital care can benefit more people, it also requires more medical talents to be involved.
Moreover, for Australians, sometimes it is not that they cannot go to a hospital for medical treatment, but that they cannot afford it.
As long as the problem of poverty is not solved, even if there are hospitals everywhere in Australia, the issue of healthcare cannot be resolved.
In comparison, clinics are much smaller. Generally speaking, one doctor is enough.
And the cost of clinics is lower than that of hospitals. Although they may not be able to solve bigger, more complex diseases, Australians generally do not have the money to see a doctor, right?
“Yes, Your Highness,” Bradford Dillman anticipated and nodded in response.
In order to thoroughly improve the medical environment, in addition to attracting a large number of medical talents from Europe, Australia must also train some medical talents every year.
Based on the current development of the Australian National University, it will take at least several years or even a decade of investment to alleviate the shortage of medical talents.
Therefore, building small clinics is a relatively effective method. At least under the premise of talent shortage, it is a more reliable choice than building hospitals.
“Continue to report,” Arthur instructed.
“Your Highness, besides the above, our public security environment, cultivated land, road construction, and industrial development have also improved significantly. Here are their summary reports for your review,” said Prime Minister Evan as he handed over several documents respectfully.
When a country achieves unity from a divided state, its economy and various constructions will also usher in rapid development.
Like Australia, after completing its unification, the formerly isolated states have started full economic and cultural exchanges, which in turn has driven Australia’s economic and other developments.
Arthur nodded.
He knew the situation of the Public Security Department. After the rectification of the police industry, the establishment of new police stations, and the training of excellent reserve policemen, it is natural for the public security environment to improve.
In addition to these, national unification and government improvement are also important factors in improving public security conditions.
Chaos breeds darkness. Once a country is unified, and power is centralized to the government, new policies are enacted, and darkness can only wither in the corners.
“At present, how much of the planting area we have? Can each immigrant be allocated a certain amount of land?” Arthur inquired.
For an immigrant country like Australia, the most effective way to attract immigrants is to allocate land and property.
The reason for the outbreak of the immigration wave in Europe, besides being caught in the whirlpool of war, is the increasing population leading to a scarcity of land, which is also an important factor.
For a country like Australia with vast land and a small population, what is lacking the least is land resources.
If land can be allocated to attract more immigrants, it is undoubtedly a beneficial method.
“Your Highness, at present, our new immigrants can be allocated an average of about ten acres of land, but most of it is wasteland, which requires the immigrants themselves to develop,” said Agriculture Minister Henry.
A small population also leads to a drawback. That is, even if there is a large area of land to allocate to immigrants, it will also be due to a lack of population, resulting in many allocated lands being undeveloped wastelands that require immigrants to cultivate themselves.
“We can appropriately increase the allocation of land and provide some assistance to these new immigrants. The cultivated land area needs to be expanded further to feed more people,” Arthur nodded and said.
The usable cultivated land area of Australia is small compared to its total land area, but because Australia has more than 7 million square kilometers of land, the actual usable cultivated land area is still large and has great potential for development.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Henry also nodded and replied.
“How is our road construction progressing? What plans do we have for highways and railways?” Arthur looked at the Minister of Transportation Connelly and asked.
As the saying goes, to get rich, build roads first. The development of transportation largely determines the speed of economic and industrial development.
With the talents of Benson and Disel, the development of automobiles will undergo rapid changes.
Under such circumstances, the construction of highways in Australia must also be put on the agenda. After all, we cannot let those unreliable cars run on dirt roads. Frequent problems may bring tears to the car owners’ eyes..