Australian Medical Association NT President Dr John Zorbas has criticised the timing of the code yellow emergency declared at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH), saying the decision came only after “a unified call and appeal” from frontline health staff and unions.
The code yellow, declared Tuesday at RDH and Palmerston Regional Hospital, marked the first since the Country Liberal Party came to power in 2024.
NT Health said both hospitals were facing “capacity challenges due to an increase in the number of patients requiring ongoing acute care.”
Speaking on ABC Radio Darwin, Zorbas said the situation had reached a crisis point days earlier.
“Doctors and nurses were telling us the hospital was dangerously full. There were absolutely no pressure-relief valves left,” he said.
“We’ve been agitating for this for a week. We welcome it, but it’s a little bit late.”
The call came amid reports that 39 patients were waiting in the RDH emergency department for beds, with only two beds available in the entire hospital.
NT Health chief executive Chris Hosking confirmed he signed off on the code yellow Tuesday after the official criteria were met, stressing that patients now require longer and more intensive care.
He denied that the declaration was prompted by external pressure, saying, “It’s a matter of when the preconditions have been met — and they were.”
Source: ABC.
