With crime and cost-of-living at the centre of this year's Northern Territory election campaign, remote health services are urging leaders not to forget the state of health facilities in the bush. A survey from the Territory's remote health services obtained exclusively by the ABC shows the majority believe they don't have enough resources to keep their facilities safe and functioning.
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00:00Health care from a shipping container, rusty beds and consultations in the corridor.
00:07Owned by the government, now run by North East Arnhem Land's Miwaj Health,
00:11these ageing community clinics built in the 60s and 70s expose the reality of primary care for First Nations people in the bush.
00:19GPs have been seeing patients in corridors because there's absolutely no space.
00:25There's no space, it's poorly designed and it's letting the community down.
00:31Exclusive data from the NT's peak Aboriginal medical services body reveals across the territory decrepit infrastructure
00:39and growing demand are pushing critical care providers to the brink.
00:43Of AMSAN's 11 members, nine believe they don't have the government resources to maintain safe and acceptable facilities.
00:50Four have already scaled back on services this year.
00:54All but three say poor housing and clinics are preventing them from recruiting and retaining staff
00:59and without improvement they can't meet future demand.
01:03The crisis so dire, AMSAN believes it's threatening to reverse progress on closing the territory's life expectancy gap.
01:10We need that infrastructure to be able to deliver the sort of service which is going to provide sustainable health benefits for our clients.
01:18Ahead of the territory election, AMSAN's delivered a six point plan to all parties
01:23calling for urgent audits of all existing remote health clinics and housing
01:27and a plan to upgrade and replace equipment and infrastructure by whichever government ends up in this building after August 24th.
01:34If the federal government would give us $20 billion we could use that, absolutely.
01:38Shiny new buildings are one thing, but workforce all comes down to liveability in the Northern Territory.
01:44So far, neither major party has offered any firm commitment.