While the government has allocated $10.9million for 19 more hospital beds at Monash Children's, that funding will not go towards plans for the new hospital.

Southern Health is finalising plans for a $220million, 200-bed children's hospital to be built on the northern side of the Clayton campus.

Monash Children's medical director Professor Nick Freezer said the hospital would be needed within five years to meet demand caused by an increasing birth rate in the Casey-Cardinia growth corridor.

Casey-Cardinia has an average of 65 families moving to the area a week, which is about 10,000 new residents a year.

The four-storey building would house all Monash Children's Clayton services, including 96 in-patient beds, four operating theatres, a 64-bed newborn unit, a 10-bed neonatal intensive care unit, 20 day beds, sleep and dialysis centres, a mental health unit and cancer and radiology services.

The hospital will take three to four years to build, which only allows the government one more year to announce funding for construction.

Scoresby MP Kim Wells, the opposition spokesman on finance, said he suspected there would be more health announcements regarding Monash in the lead-up to the election.

"It's a pity the government is not honest and open with Victorians to declare their health spending now rather than waiting for election-time opportunities."

Professor Freezer said the $10.9million funding for Monash Children's would go towards meeting urgent demand faced by the hospital today.

It will provide four neonatal intensive-care beds and five paediatric intensive-care beds. It will also allow 10 previously closed children's inpatient beds to be recommissioned, he said.

"There will be an additional building to house those beds. It's not the big building we're planning.

"Even if the 200-bed building was funded, it would take three to four years to construction. We are still hopeful they will agree to fund the 200-bed hospital in the future."

Health Minister Daniel Andrews did not respond to a request for an interview from the Journal.

A government spokesman said the $10.9million funding would double the existing number of paediatric intensive-care beds.

He said the commitment, which Professor Freezer discussed with Mr Andrews last year, met the current needs of the Monash Medical Centre and laid the groundwork for a second children's hospital in the future.