Arabic version: ألبانيزي يعلن تحديثات بقيمة 10 ملايين دولار لقسم الولادة في مستشفى رويال داروين
According to ABC News, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced $10 million for maternity infrastructure at Royal Darwin Hospital while declining to commit federal funding for a new hospital in Darwin. Asked twice whether he would consider funding a new facility, Mr Albanese said he was at the hospital to announce the maternity services package.
The Northern Territory health department has called for a new Darwin hospital since Cyclone Fina last November, when bricks came loose and fell onto a roof, causing a partial ceiling collapse. Former NT Health chief executive Chris Hosking said at the time that the territory’s largest hospital was “literally creaking at the seams”. He has since moved to Treasury to develop plans for new hospitals in the territory, including in Darwin.
The maternity funding follows increased demand at Royal Darwin Hospital after Darwin Private Hospital closed its maternity ward last year, leaving RDH as the only option for women having babies. The NT government had initially sought $35 million from the federal government last year, before being asked to submit a further request for $10 million. The grant will be allocated in December’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, Mr Albanese said.
The investment will fund refurbishments to existing birthing suites and the maternity ward, including private bathrooms in birthing suites and a general nursery in the ward. Plans also include a separate bereavement room outside the maternity suites and a lactation room in the neonatal intensive care unit. NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the funding would support privacy improvements and investment in neonatal intensive care.
Local advocacy group Our Birth Our Voice welcomed the infrastructure funding while raising concerns about staffing and access to maternity, birthing and miscarriage care. Spokesperson Sophia Emberson-Bain said the NT government would need to deliver the upgrades and address systems supporting the infrastructure, including access to scans. Fellow spokesperson Leesa Burton said the funding would improve the spaces where services are provided but would not address staffing or the availability of private obstetricians.
