As the Northern Territory government struggles to increase vaccination rates in Indigenous communities, Health Minister Natasha Fyles has issued a stern warning to those who refuse to be jabbed.
"A large outbreak in an unvaccinated community would be devastating," she said.
Ms Fyles said people who refused to be vaccinated could potentially add pressure to the Northern Territory's health care system.
According to the Northern Territory Department of Health website, the Alice Springs Health Service catchment area covers approximately 42,000 people and covers a distance of more than 1 million square kilometres — extending into the bordering areas of South Australia and Western Australia.
Ms Fyles said the Alice Springs Hospital had 10 intensive care beds.
"The more people that are vaccinated, the less impact on our hospital system," Ms Fyles said.
"Of those 10 beds, three are in negative pressure rooms, which is important when you're treating a person with an infectious disease," she said.
In the event of an COVID-19 outbreak, wards would be shut or repurposed.
"We have obviously the recovery from theatre or our coronary care unit. We could shift those across to becoming intensive care," Ms Fyles said.
"It would also be making sure, of course, that COVID-19 patients are completely separate to any other patient receiving care. So that would be an added logistical challenge for our hospital."
Field hospitals could be set up in car parks
Ms Fyles said field hospitals were part of the plan if hospital resources were stretched.
"We haven't ruled out setting them up in car parks of existing hospitals," she said.
Ms Fyles said that staffing the hospital during an outbreak could be challenging given the need for ICU-trained nurses and staff-to-patient ratios.
"People would see appointments deferred, we would be certainly stretched," she said.
Ms Fyles said that the government was looking to re-employ recently retired staff.
"We've seen all sorts of adaptations to try and make sure that we have the nursing staff.
"But we only have to look at New South Wales. They are really stretched at the moment with their nursing and their care for so many hospital patients and that's a big system," she said.
'We've seen the future'
Australian Medical Association NT president Robert Parker also paints a grim picture of the realities of COVID-19 getting into unvaccinated Central Australian communities.
"[There could be] very high numbers of sicker and potentially deceased individuals," Dr Parker said.
"I'm sure the Health Department has figured that into its calculations."
Dr Parker said there was evidence as to what could happen if the Delta strain of the disease got into an unvaccinated community.
Dr Parker said this was avoidable if only people would get vaccinated.
"If all of the Territory can reach an 80 per cent to 85 per cent overall rate, and … Indigenous communities [reach] 95 per cent, there's less likely to be … adverse events from COVID-19," he said.
