As Monash Medical Centre staff past and present celebrated the 25th anniversary of the centre, special birthday guests Alex Tzatzimakis – one of the first babies born at Monash Medical Centre Clayton’s Special Care Nursery – reunited with her paediatrician Dr Chris Pappas to mark the auspicious occasion. The Minister for Health David Davis was also at the birthday celebration and congratulated all the staff for the work they have done throughout the years. “I congratulate all the staff that have worked at Monash Medical Centre over the past 25 years that contributed to the proud tradition of providing high quality patient care to Melbourne’s south-east residents,” Mr Davis said. “Today, Monash Medical Centre is one of Victoria’s major teaching and tertiary referral hospitals and is most renowned for its cardiac procedures, complex pregnancy care and children’s services.” In 2011/12, Monash Medical Centre Clayton, with a staff of more than 6,700, had 70,000 people present to the emergency department, 107,705 outpatients appointments, 70,000 people admitted to receive treatment and delivered more than 3,574 babies. Mr Davis said the hospital in Clayton was officially opened on 19 September 1987, although it treated its first patients on 17 July that year. The opening came about 14 years after the first announcement of plans to relocate the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital to the new 20 acre site in Clayton. At that stage Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital was in Lonsdale Street in Melbourne and the Clayton site was occupied by McCulloch House, a convalescent home for elderly people.