Unfortunately we are in the News.

[jonesfam]

Women who died after going to Doomadgee Hospital with a preventable disease were '''badly let down''', minister says - ABC News (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-08/doomadgee-hospital-health-service-rhd-women-deaths/100887674)

4 Corners were up here last month for over a week, last night we saw why.
Maybe they are right, I've always found the different health mobs here OK but, I'm a white fella.
I will agree we do have a lot of problems getting & keeping doctors, no such thing as going to your regular doctor, they change constantly when one is about.
Maybe Navy Diver knows some looking for work?
Jonesfam

[Saitch]

I see the government has reacted to it.

Instead of being 'Reactive', why can't they be 'Proactive' and it's not just this issue I'm referring to?

[ramblingboy42]

Proactive requires committment and unbroken promises.

Reactive just requires hot air and lies.

[trout1105]

Doomadgee isn't renowned as being a tranquil and pleasant place for health professionals to work in which makes it understandable that is is bloody hard to get staff to work/live there.
Sometimes people can be their own worst enemy when it comes to attracting/keeping the health profesionals and the other services they need in their community.

[V8Ian]

So is Bourke hospital.

[ramblingboy42]

there is a total life re-education program needed here for every person living in Doomagee.

every similar town in Australia has the same problems.

every item of town planning needs to be re-addressed vis , water , hygiene, sewerage, rubbish pick-up and disposal, healthclinics/hospitals , associated necessary equipment to maintain everything , persons employed and responsible for it.

if our govt just reallocated 1% of our defence budget into those areas , with proper education the problem would be licked.

perhaps parliament should be made to sit in some of these outback centres , as they exist , and just see how much could be done working in those conditions.

whoops, pushing current affairs button a little here....

[Saitch]

there is a total life re-education program needed here for every person living in Doomagee.

every similar town in Australia has the same problems.

every item of town planning needs to be re-addressed vis , water , hygiene, sewerage, rubbish pick-up and disposal, healthclinics/hospitals , associated necessary equipment to maintain everything , persons employed and responsible for it.

if our govt just reallocated 1% of our defence budget into those areas , with proper education the problem would be licked.

perhaps parliament should be made to sit in some of these outback centres , as they exist , and just see how much could be done working in those conditions.

whoops, pushing current affairs button a little here....

Yep, be careful RB. You don't want to paint yourself into four corners!

[V8Ian]

Just watched the episode; nothing surprising revealed and nothing l could refute.

[Saitch]

That poor woman should never have been treated in that way and something obviously needs to be addressed.
In doing so, everything and I mean everything, must be taken into account. I personally know medical staff who, when working at Doomadgee, were abused and according to the term in this day and age, assaulted by townsfolk. Basically, they were scared!
Admittedly, this was a few years ago, but as the programme indicated, Health Dept. issues are not new, and I would suggest that nothing has changed much over the years.

[trout1105]

That poor woman should never have been treated in that way and something obviously needs to be addressed.
In doing so, everything and I mean everything, must be taken into account. I personally know medical staff who, when working at Doomadgee, were abused and according to the term in this day and age, assaulted by townsfolk. Basically, they were scared!
Admittedly, this was a few years ago, but as the programme indicated, Health Dept. issues are not new, and I would suggest that nothing has changed much over the years.

Doomadgee isn't the Only community with major problems keeping medical staff because of the anti social behaviour of some of the residents they are there to help.
Some people can be their own worst enemy and it isn't just confined to remote communities, The medical staff and parmedics in the cities cop abuse and are assulted on a regular basis as well.
However in a remote community due to the low staffing levels this sort of anti social behaviour can and does result in people succumbing to their injuries/illnesses.
IF this behavioural problem is addressed the medical services will improove considerably especially in a remote setting[thumbsupbig]

[HUE166]

My memories of Doomagee are not positive. On numerous occasions I have flown supplies into the town airstrip in preparation for the funeral services of a few of the locals. The supplies that I was transporting were hardly conducive to a peaceful funeral service and were supplied by the public purse. That is just one example of a mistake made in good faith by our public authorities and, probably, mostly detested by those in charge of local public health.

The problems there and in many places like it (Hall's Creek and Wilcannia spring to mind) are deeply seated and reach far beyond the material provision of modern services. The greatest problem is a deep social disfunction that disallows the community concerned to take any advantage of modern services and equipment. The successful implementation and supervision of the provision of such services and the allocation of their relevant equipment is the domain of extremely tallented, vocationally focused individuals that should be identified and funded accordingly. The counterintuitive drenching of the problem with funding based on hair-brained principals imposed by some far-flung university study has to end. This is not the domain of raw health interns or doctors who simply fail to fit any other sector of the health system.

This problem is a federal issue. Local relevant MP's such as Bob Katter should be empowered to personally recruit and choreograph effective programs that attack the problem from its roots rather than apply band aids to the symptoms. Australia is a signatory to numerous world organisations whose policies include the eradication of poor health outcomes, one of which is the fight against Rheumatic Fever. However, the mere existence of Rheumatic Fever itself is just a symptom of the greater, underlying problem.

There is no simple solution, but, there must be a solution.