CAPE York dialysis patients say they are being left waiting to die in Cairns motel rooms for up to five years because the vital care they need has been ripped from their
communities.
Since the Bamaga renal dialysis unit was left unmanned in 2007, diabetics Seba Missi and Lency Stephen have been living in tiny motel rooms in Cairns, more than 900km from their family and friends.
Ms Missi, who lost both her legs to diabetes-associated health problems, has been living in a Cairns motel room for almost five years; Ms Stephen for two.
The pair thought they would live out the rest of their days in a city they did not choose to call home, but they have made a firm friend in Liberal National Party candidate for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, who has vowed to "bring them home by Christmas".
Mr Entsch said he was aware of about 20 people from the Torres Strait Islands, Cape York and the Northern Peninsula areas who were living in Cairns motel rooms while undergoing dialysis.
"These are the forgotten Queensland Health people," Mr Entsch said. "To lock these people away in an alien community and leave them there until they die is just appalling.
"You’ve got people here that are virtually in prison and dying a slow death.
"I would like to set up a program where we can get people back into their communities by Christmas. One way or another, I will bring them home."
Two units, one at Weipa and one at Bamaga, were built less than 10 years ago but are no longer functioning in a supervised capacity.
Queensland Health confirmed yesterday they were "self-care dialysis units" where patients can dialyse themselves if they have undergone training in home dialysis.
For the Bamaga unit to become an assisted unit, Mr Entsch said two full-time nurses were required.
Ms Stephen said it would be a small price to pay for her and others in the same situation to be reunited with their family and friends, and be comforted by the fact a trained professional could supervise their care.
The self-dialysis option has been discussed with Ms Stephen and Ms Missi, but both women were not comfortable doing so with no medical training
"To go home, we have to do training and do it ourselves," Ms Stephen said.
"I can’t do it … I just can’t. I said to them ‘I’m not a nurse, I’m a patient’."
Three patients who stayed at the same motel as Ms Stephen and Ms Missi are now dead, including one who died on the premises.
Torres and Northern Peninsula Area Health Service District chief executive Christine Giles said the department would look at staffing the Bamaga unit.
Cape York Health Service District chief executive officer Susan Turner said Weipa Hospital also had a self-care dialysis unit, and there was a nurse-assisted satellite dialysis unit at Cooktown.
She said the average cost for each patient staying in Cairns was about $40 a day, which Queensland Health covered, along with costs for a family member to stay with them at another $40 a day.
