Australia’s second biggest private hospital operator, Healthscope, was placed in receivership on Monday. This means the future prospects of 38 hospitals, 19,000 staff and hundreds of thousands of patients are now in the hands of ruthless international hedge funds, to which the private equity fund-owned company owes an estimated $1.6 billion.
Healthscope, which operates hospitals in every Australian state and territory, had 650,000 patients last year. Its liquidation by its owners, Brookfield Asset Management, puts a spotlight on the destructive character of the increasing subordination of the health system, by successive Labor and…
