Doctors angry as suspected coronavirus cases directed to suburban clinic

A DARWIN doctor’s practice has criticised NT health authorities for putting vulnerable patients at risk and telling them to receive two people suspected of being exposed to coronavirus

A Darwin clinic has criticised NT health authorities for telling them to receive two people suspected of being exposed to coronavirus.

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A DARWIN clinic has criticised NT health authorities for putting vulnerable patients at risk and telling them to receive two people suspected of being exposed to coronavirus.

Stuart Park Surgery practice principal David Welch said his clinic was contacted by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and instructed to receive two patients suspected to have come into contact with a man with coronavirus on Tuesday.

“If the CDC is asking people to go to their general practice they’re exposing all the patients in the waiting room and the clinic staff to coronavirus which has a high mortality rate,” he said.

Dr Welch said his staff had contacted the two patients and told them to stay put, and warned others who think they have the virus to not turn up to the clinic.

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A NT Health spokeswoman said they advised anyone suspected to have coronavirus to contact their local GP and make arrangements to be tested.

“GP clinics have been provided with information about how to manage people without placing their other clients at risk, and this has been done well by GP clinics who have done testing to date,” she said.

Dr Welch said suspected cases should be directed to a hospital or dedicated medical facility where doctors have protective gear and are better equipped to help them.

“We’re not going to see patients with coronavirus — it exposes us to great risk,” he said.

“By the very nature of a medical clinic, we have sick people who are at risk of dying (should they contract the virus).”

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Health Minister Natasha Fyles said a pandemic clinic would open at the Royal Darwin Hospital on Monday, where anyone with coronavirus symptoms can present to.

The hospital has the only laboratory in the NT that can provide results for coronavirus tests.