NAIF: Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility splashes $25m on hospital

A Townsville hospital has $25 million on the table to improve maternity and dialysis services in North Queensland.

A Townsville hospital has $25 million on the table to improve maternity and dialysis services in North Queensland.

Mater Private Hospital’s Pimlico campus has been approved for $25m of taxpayer money by way of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

Mater applied for the loan and the option to drawdown now sits with them.

“Mater welcomes the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility announcement. The funding offer will now be considered in detail by Mater,” a spokesperson said.

Perth-based Minister for Northern Australia, Madeleine King, said the loan would support the construction of a “state-of-the-art” maternity unit and the refurbishment and expansion of the renal dialysis unit at Pimlico.

Mater is a Catholic not-for-profit ministry of Mercy Partners. Picture: Evan Morgan

NAIF chief executive Craig Doyle said “Access to adequate healthcare facilities often attracts families to the region, leading to a more economically active population.

The project also includes the goal of building Indigenous career pathways for students or adults at Mater Private Hospital.

Construction at Mater’s Pimlico campus which was funded by NAIF. Picture: Leighton Smith

“By reducing the demand on public health services, the project is set to deliver a range of socio-economic benefits to the community,” Mr Doyle said.

Demand for maternity services and renal dialysis has outpaced availability in some regards and sparked major investments in northern Queensland to varying degrees.

The maternal foetal medicine service at James Cook University Hospital is expanding but the maternity unit at Cairns’ only private hospital shuts for good on Wednesday.

Ingham Hospital’s maternity service has been put on bypass multiple times because of staff shortages.

Forty new roles have been created with a new kidney transplant centre in Townsville, which will provide pre-and-post operation care in hospitals across the region.

In mid-2022 renal dialysis services started in Charters Towers, saving one grandmother with kidney failure from thrice-weekly bus trips into Townsville.

The NAIF loaned $19.7m to Mater in 2020 for 400 new carparks at the Pimlico campus.

NAIF is legislatively-bound to announce loans, which is why it has announced the funds before the money has been drawn-down.

Originally published as NAIF: Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility splashes $25m on hospital