Kowanyama Primary Healthcare Centre’s renal dialysis unit completed
A remote Far North community now has direct access to a critical health service, previously forcing some patients to travel hundreds of kilometres for care.
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A remote Far North community now has direct access to a critical health service, previously forcing some patients to relocate hundreds of kilometres for care.
In a joint statement with the Health Minister and the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, Premier Steven Miles announced the $4.75m Kowanyama renal dialysis unit had been completed.
The unit will initially provide dialysis for three patients with the capacity to manage up to 16 patients as future demand requires.
The unit was built as an extension to the existing Kowanyama Primary Healthcare Centre and includes consultation and storage rooms.
The Kowanyama haemodialysis unit will be the fifth assisted dialysis unit in the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service region, with units already established at Thursday Island, Weipa, Cooktown, and Bamaga.
TCHHS acting executive director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health Natasha Fretwell said while services would initially be delivered by renal nurses, there were plans to implement “culturally-appropriate” care.
“The Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service has developed a model of care that will allow haemodialysis services at Kowanyama to be delivered with the support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners who will have received advanced training in kidney health,” she said.
“The health service already has an advanced kidney health practitioner at the Thursday Island dialysis unit and is recruiting others, including two for Kowanyama.
“We are also developing a training pathway for other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners to build skills to support all our health service’s remote dialysis services and other specialist services.”
The welcome boost in health services for the Cape community come comes months after the release of the first part of a report following an investigation into the TCHHS, sparked by the death of a Bamaga toddler in June last year and public outcries calling for improved health services.
Earlier this year data from the Public Health Information Development Unit at Torrens University showed that remote communities in the Far North had some of the lowest life expectancy rates in the country – including Kowanyama where between 2017 and 2021 the median age of death was 53.
The leading cause of death in Kowanyama is coronary health diseases followed by lung disease and suicide.
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Originally published as Kowanyama Primary Healthcare Centre’s renal dialysis unit completed
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