The chief executives of two outback Central Australian clinics say they are in an "absolutely dire" situation as the neighbouring Indigenous communities battle COVID-19 outbreaks with dwindling supplies, skeleton staff, flooded roadways — and no phone service.
Utopia and Ampilatwatja, 350 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs, have been without road access and a reliable landline or mobile phone service for more than a week following heavy rain.
Both communities are managing their first coronavirus outbreaks.
NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the government was using its resources to care for those who required medical attention.
However, in Ampilatwatja, chief executiev Riek Luak said the clinic's job had become "extremely difficult" because of flooded roadways, poor telecommunications and an unusable, flooded air strip.
Utopia has recorded 54 cases and Ampilatwatja has recorded eight since the outbreaks began last week.
With just five medical staff to service 600 patients, Mr Luak said the Ampilatwatja clinic was doing everything it could to manage the outbreak while also providing primary health care.
In the past week, the clinic had managed three emergencies, including a birth, without access to Royal Flying Doctor Service support.
He said so far, after 70 tests, the outbreak was contained to one household, but that was just after one day of testing and could change.
As of Sunday, the clinic had about 60 rapid antigen tests left, enough to test 10 per cent of the community once.
Community nervous
Mr Luak said he had contacted NT Health for supplies and support but no-one had "reached out" until Friday, when he was contacted by local police.
The community was very anxious but was being "incredibly strong", Mr Luak said.
"I grew up in Melbourne. There is no way this would be allowed to happen in rural Victoria," he said.
Every year the region experiences heavy flooding and isolation, and its roads and runway remain in disrepair.
The community has a double dose vaccination rate of 25 per cent for people over the age of five, which makes Mr Luak very nervous about what an outbreak could mean.
Dash to town ends in rollover
Some 75 kilometres to the west, at Urapuntja Health Service, chief executive Tim Cram said the clinic was also running low on food, medical supplies, medicine and rapid antigen tests since being cut off a week ago.
At the start of Utopia's outbreak, the government evacuated three patients, but since then no further aircraft had arrived, even to drop off supplies, despite "repeated" promises, Mr Cram said.
On January 28, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the government was working closely with the community and that it was his understanding that it hadn't been left without resources, as the supplies had arrived by another method.
Mr Cram rejected this claim.
"We are still waiting for the evacuation flight that was promised on Saturday last week," he said, "no supplies have arrived by any means."
Fearing help would never come, on Friday the clinic did a run of its own into Alice Springs on a closed road to retrieve medical supplies, rapid antigen tests, medication and food.
That car rolled on its return journey through floodwaters. The driver had only minor injuries and some supplies were damaged.
Another clinic car was "bogged for at least a few days", Mr Cram said, after it tried to cross floodwaters to reach patients.
Low case numbers 'due to low testing'
Utopia came out of its seven-day lockdown on Saturday, after Ms Fyles said the region had continued to experience low case numbers.
Mr Cram said the community had recorded low case numbers because of a shortage of rapid antigen tests, logistical issues and limited staffing.
"[This is] when … the essential services around you are collapsing, basically."
On January 28, Mr Gunner said the Commonwealth had supplied eight nurses to assist with the outbreak, but Mr Cram said three nurses had been deployed to assist with testing and vaccinations.
A spokesperson for Telstra said a "hardware issue" was behind the telecommunications issues.
"We have been attempting to get to the site but floodwaters are preventing us from accessing the area," the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for NT health said: "Our team and suppliers are well practised in wet season preparedness.
"Through an Incident Management Team in the Southern Region [Central Australia] and another in the Northern Region, we work with all communities to ensure that they have all they need while delivering a planned response to any COVID outbreak."
