NT medical groups still waiting for $10 million from Federal Government for dialysis treatment

Dialysis patient Didamain Uibo had to give up her work to move to Darwin for treatment.

Northern Territory medical groups have said they are still waiting on $10 million in federal funding to bolster dialysis infrastructure in remote communities.

Chronic kidney disease contributes to 15 per cent of hospitalisations and the Territory has the highest rates of sufferers in the world.

Menzies School of Health kidney specialist Doctor Paul Lawton said one third of Indigenous people in the Territory need treatment.

"We have a problem with an Indigenous population who have many bio-medical risk factors, like diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as social risk factors like poor nutrition and poor living conditions coming together," he said.

Indigenous woman Didamain Uibo receives dialysis in Darwin three times a week, despite having a kidney transplant several years ago.

She was once a school principal in the Top End community of Numbulwar on the Gulf of Carpentaria coast.

"I said goodbye to the workforce, because of the constant treatment," she said.

Ms Uibo is one of 550 people receiving dialysis treatment in the Territory, the majority of which have to relocate from their community to regional centres like Darwin or Alice Springs.

"It's very hard, because people get homesick, they have to go home and sometimes miss out coming back because of the transport," Ms Uibo said.

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NT medical groups still waiting for $10 million from Federal Government for dialysis treatment