A couple living far from home are pleading for help amid health crisis

A 64-year-old resident who has been living far from home for the past 18 months because he can’t get the right health care in his own community is making a desperate call for change

A 64-year-old resident who has been living far from home for the past 18 months because he can’t get the right health care in his own community is making a desperate call for help.

Mount Isa man Min Gaulai suffered critical renal failure in 2019, and with no available dialysis spots in his hometown, he was forced to make the move to Cairns and stay there indefinitely with his wife Dolly to get treatment.

Mr Gaulai is one of at least 20 people, many of whom are Indigenous, currently displaced from their home in Mount Isa due to the region’s dialysis crisis.

Mr Gaulai is currently around 14th on the waiting list for dialysis in Mount Isa.

Katter’s Australian Party Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said Mr Gaulai’s plight demonstrated the cruel divide between city and country.

Min Gaulai and his wife Dolly Hankin outside their Mount Isa home. Picture: Leonie Winks

He said the Mount Isa Hospital, managed by the North West Hospital and Health Service (NWHHS), currently had 10 dialysis chairs operating across three shifts a day.

A total of 47 patients are being provided their renal treatment in the city, with at least 20 on the waitlist.

An additional 20 local people are expected to need to move onto dialysis in the next 12 months, meaning patient demand for dialysis could surpass 80 people by 2022.

Mr Katter has pleaded with the Palaszczuk State Government to intervene in what he has described as a growing “humanitarian crisis” caused by repeat and chronic underfunding.

“Min and his wife Dolly have been invaluable community members for many years – they have worked all their lives and have been tireless community volunteers including with the Catholic Church,” he said.

“Dolly runs the local Arthur Peterson Diversionary Centre, which provides overnight

accommodation in Mount Isa for those who are homeless or affected by chronic substance abuse.

Dolly Hankin and husband Min Gaulai outside the Mount Isa hospital. Picture: Leonie Winks

“The Mount Isa community can’t do without people like her and Min, so what hope do we have if they are forced to move away?”

Mr Katter said the ultimate goal for Mount Isa was a new $10 million clinic that would include at least 27 chairs, 2.5 FTE nephrologists, two additional clinical nurse consultants and a health worker.

“The hospital also needs an acute renal unit,” he said.

“The current unit is maintenance only, meaning if someone needing dialysis returns to Mount Isa for a funeral or other emergent reasons, they must be catered for in the already at-capacity

maintenance unit.

“This is the same for inpatients in the hospital, and it causes huge disruptions for patients and

staff. Dialysis is not something that can wait for another day.”

Originally published as A couple living far from home are pleading for help amid health crisis