The Haymarket Foundation is a longstanding Sydney institution that serves as a health service for Sydney's homeless.
The Foundation may be forced to close its doors after the Federal Government withdrew funding for the health service after more than 20 years of helping the city's most vulnerable, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Haymarket's patients are some of Sydney's most disadvantaged residents, many are homeless and up to a third have no government Medicare card.
People suffering from addictions, such as heroin and ice addictions would be left with nowhere to go for medical support.
The report stated that 70 to 90 people access the Foundation’s services every day while the organisation estimates it saves the health system more than $917,000 each year by providing preventative health care.
One man who had received help from the Haymarket Foundation, Ian Kinross, said: "If they shut the doors I wouldn't be going no-where," he said. "If this places closes up… every body will be just staying on heroin or ice.”
Mr Kinross had been a heroin addict from the age of 13 but said that six years ago he found the Haymarket Foundation - and that everything changed. He was able to get clean and the Foundation helped to find him a permanent home.
The vulnerable of inner-city Sydney deserve to have access to medical care and support. Will you join me in urging the Federal Government to keep funding the Haymarket Foundation so the homeless have access to medical care?
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