A SMOKING ceremony welcomed hundreds of community members, hospital officials and invited guests to the new clinical services building connected to Dubbo Hospital, which was viewed by the public for the first time on Saturday.
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During the smoking ceremony, everyone in attendance had the opportunity to cleanse themselves through the smoke. Ralph Naden, who also led a dance, said it would bring good spirits into the hospital.
A number of officials including Dubbo Hospital general manager Debbie Bickerton, Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Scott McLachlan and Dubbo MP Troy Grant addressed the crowd of more than 100 people, and all talked about how pleased they were with the facility and how much the staff and community would benefit from it.
Following the official proceedings, the new clinical services building was opened to the public and the 30-minute tours got underway with tens of people lined up at a time.
In total, more than 800 people had registered for the tours by Friday afternoon, and many more were registering on the day.
The clinical services building is the major component of the soon-to-be-completed $91.3 million stage one and two redevelopment of the Dubbo Hospital.
Mr McLachlan could not give the new facility a high enough rating.
"It is an amazing development and the technology that has been used and is now available is as good as it gets," he said.
"This is the best facility I have seen in Australia.
"I'd like to say a big thanks to staff for all their care and hard work and they along with the community should be very proud of this area."
Mr McLachlan also highlighted the local artwork that was on display in the new facility.
"We tried to recognise the culture of the longest living culture in the world," he said.
"All the artwork is great and to have the local community make have such a big input into it is great."
Mr Grant echoed those comments and acknowledged attending events such as Saturday's was one of the best parts of his job.
"This is a world-class facility and that is what the people of Dubbo and the region deserve," he said.
"I've spoken with a number of the theatre surgeons and they're very excited to get in and make use of it.
"Having better facilities will help out with waiting times which is a great outcome.
"It is days like this that are very satisfying as the community gets what they deserve."
The NSW government invested $84.2 million and the Commonwealth $7.1 million in the project. The first patients to use the facility should be in about six weeks' time.
