Homelands left without access to medicine through lack of staff

THE mayor of West Arnhem says the Territory Government “will have blood on their hands” if more is not done to provide medication and services to homelands in the region

West Arnhem mayor Matthew Ryan says the Territory Government “will have blood on their hands” if more is not done to provide medication and services to homelands in the region.

THE mayor of West Arnhem says the Territory Government “will have blood on their hands” if more is not done to provide medication and services to homelands in the region.

West Arnhem Regional Council’s Matthew Ryan said the Mala’la Health Service Aboriginal Corporation did not visit the remote communities around Maningrida often enough.

Mr Ryan said this left those with serious conditions such as heart disease without access to vital medications.

“There’s an increase in rheumatic heart disease with the little ones as well, there’s about 25 new cases in the last couple of months they have found just in Maningrida and God knows how many out in the homelands,” he said.

“Most of the families that live out in the homelands don’t have any transportation and they have to come here, which is so irrelevant and really stupid. They should be employing at least one or two people to go and deliver medicine to the homelands.”

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But Mala’la chief executive Ray Matthews said finding enough resources to service the homelands had been an ongoing issue for years and more government funding would be required to hire additional staff.

“We are aware that the community support that, it’s not a Mala’la Health Service responsibility, it’s a government responsibility and at the moment we don’t have the resources to be able to actually employ people to go out there,” he said.

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Mr Matthews said the organisation was doing what it could, including introducing a new mobile consulting room — but even that wouldn’t be ready till early next year.

“We envisage that a doctor, nurse and Aboriginal health worker will be going out to the homelands on a regular basis,” he said.

Mr Matthews said even once the project was up and running it would likely only be able to visit each community once a month.

“Keeping in mind that there are 30 odd homelands so it’s not going to be easy but I think that once they get into some kind of rhythm it’ll work out and it’ll be a lot better that what it is at the present moment,” he said.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles

Health Minister Natasha Fyles would not commit to funding additional staff but said the government’s “number one priority is creating local jobs”.

A Health Department spokeswoman said the health centre liaised “regularly” with homeland residents about scheduled check-ups.

“In an emergency, the health centre will respond locally or if necessary a direct medical retrieval will occur,” she said.