Destiny lies in a brown paper bag

Your birthplace fate or fortune What a privilege it is to have been born in Australia. My parents are third generation farmers and they and their ancestors lived in a small rural and farming community, Kyogle, on the Queensland and New South Wales border. The town has a fluctuating population. According to the census data from 2006, Kyogle’s population is approximately 4110.1 Kyogle Memorial Hospital, see image 1, was my birthplace in the mid-sixties. Despite the era, the hospital was well equipped with staff, equipment and a maternity ward. The maternity ward and operating suite provided skilled GPs with the resources to deliver babies at the hospital. The western world has much to be proud about. Australia, when compared to other developed countries is a leader in health care. When we compare Australia’s investment into health care per capita of population and as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) (Table 1),2 our nation is the second highest investor in healthcare in the world. Although these data refer to 2003, they are the most current comparative data available and are profound statistics.