Northern Territory health authorities say its hospitals have enough backup medical supplies to last a few days without affecting patient care — before more supplies are due to arrive — after a huge fire tore through a supply warehouse in Darwin.
Key points:
- A massive fire tore through a warehouse filled with hospital supplies in Darwin’s industrial area on Sunday
- NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says the exact cost of the damage is still being established
- Authorities say patient care and delivery of elective surgeries will continue as usual for now
The warehouse in the suburb of Berrimah was filled with critical daily supplies for hospitals across the Top End, including emergency medical equipment, disposable sheets for surgeries, gloves and plaster.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the impact of Sunday’s fire would be “significant”.
“To both our system and also the cost, but all of that is too early to tell the total figures,” she said.
Fire and emergency services said on Sunday the fire caused about $30 million worth of damage to property and supplies, but Ms Fyles today said that figure was still being substantiated.
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
Firefighters remained at the scene on Monday morning, as it continued to smoulder.
Ms Fyles said emergency contingencies had been rolled out to minimise any disruption to services.
“We’re now working through what supplies we have in other warehouses, what supplies we have within our hospitals,” Ms Fyles said.
“So it might be that we have some supplies we can shift to different locations – all of that’s being worked through.”
An “Code Brown” alert is in place across the hospital network, which is an emergency system triggered by external events, from transport incidents to full-blown natural catastrophes.
Acting executive lead for Royal Darwin Hospital, Kylee St George, said the hospital network had a backup of “three days worth of stock and supplies” which would allow hospitals to continue operating as normal until Wednesday, when the next delivery of supplies is due to arrive.
“That’s what everyone is working through, to make sure we have the time and the capacity to move resources around the NT, and pull in anything additional that we think we might need,” she said.
Ms St George said health teams “don’t anticipate” having to delay or cancel any elective surgeries.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the building destroyed had been leased to the NT Government about four years ago, and that its occupancy certificate was up to date.
Earlier this month, the NT ICAC Commissioner revealed more than 300 government buildings across the NT did not have valid occupancy certificates in place, including Royal Darwin Hospital.
