’Racist’ heath system failing NT indigenous kidney patients, says leading Darwin specialist

A “RACIST” health system means Aboriginal Australians are missing out on kidney transplants because non-indigenous residents are given first preference, according to a specialist.

A “racist” health system means Aboriginal Territorians are missing out on kidney transplants that are going to non-indigenous residents for no good reason, a leading Darwin kidney specialist says

A “RACIST” health system means Aboriginal Territorians are missing out on kidney transplants to non-indigenous residents who are favoured, a leading specialist says.

Menzies School of Health Research senior fellow and doctor Paul Lawton said while a non-indigenous kidney patient living in Darwin was as or more likely to receive a transplant as someone living in Sydney or Melbourne, that was not the case for Aboriginal people.

“The bad news is that an indigenous Territorian from the same area, from urban Darwin, or Alice Springs, will have around a 15 per cent chance, so 85 per cent less chance, of getting a kidney transplant even though they’re the same age, same gender, same illness profile,” he said.

Dr Lawton said the inequality was a result of “systemic bias” which favoured non-indigenous Australians.

“We’ve organised our systems to deal very well right around Australia for providing really good services for non-indigenous Australians but we don’t organise our systems of care to deal with indigenous Australians,” he said.

“What I’m talking about is not the sort of racism you might see at the Ku Klux Klan ... it’s not that sort of overt racism, it’s actually the way in which our system works tends to favour non-indigenous people getting good care over indigenous people.”

The requirement for transplant recipients to complete a dental check to be eligible for the procedure was just one example of the bias built into the system, Dr Lawton said.

He said while it was a relatively simple box to tick for non-indigenous Territorians, the reliance of many Aboriginal people on the “under-resourced” public health system created a “barrier to getting on the waiting list”.

“It’s only one (barrier) but it’s an important one and this happens all the way along for pretty much everything, barrier after barrier after barrier that favours non-indigenous people getting through those barriers but indigenous people not,” he said.

Dr Lawton — who treated Yolngu musician Dr G Yunupingu before his death from kidney disease in July and backed claims the singer was racially profiled at the Royal Darwin Hospital last year — stressed the issue was not a case of blaming individual hospitals or their staff.

“It’s not individual doctors and nurses who are racist ... it’s actually the systems that are racist,” he said.