The Health Minister for Tasmania says young people with hangovers are putting hospital emergency departments under strain.
Michelle O'Byrne told a parliamentary hearing a growing number of Tasmanians are unnecessarily turning up to emergency rooms.
O'Byrne blamed a lack of GPs and cultural change, saying: "We do have within a lot of younger members, an immediacy and demand for things to be fixed straight away.
"I mean it's not unusual for someone to present with a hangover."
But the problem appears to be isolated to Tasmania, with health services on the mainland not under the same pressure.
"NSW Emergency Departments are not being affected in the same way as Tasmania," said a spokesperson from NSW Health.
Although the department acknowledges alcohol abuse is a "significant cause of health and social problems in the community", it is not putting emergency rooms under extra pressure.
The emergency service at the Royal Melbourne Hospital does not suffer from an overloading of people with hangovers either.
A spokesperson said the unit receives only a "very small" number of people in that situation and it is not a problem for the service.
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