Indigenous kidney health: Expert panel to discuss low transplant rates

The federal government has launched an inquiry into the low kidney transplant rates for Indigenous patients, saying equitable access to treatment is “fundamental to fairness”.

Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt during Question Time. Source: AAP

Non-Indigenous patients are nearly four times more likely than Indigenous patients to receive a kidney transplant.

First Nations people are also nine times as likely to be reliant on dialysis.

Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt, who himself is of Indigenous heritage, said the issue is close to home.

“I have heard many moving stories of the trauma and heartache caused by renal disease, including in my own family,” Mr Wyatt said.

“This review aims to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander transplant rates, reduce the burden of regular dialysis and give more First Nations people the chance to live fulfilling lives on country and in their communities.”

An expert panel has been tasked with coming up with a national framework to develop an integrated model of care to reduce the higher rates of end-stage kidney disease among First Nations people.

“Ensuring transplant equity is fundamental to fairness and Closing the Gap in health equality,” Mr Wyatt said.

He said it is hoped a strategy will be ready for consideration by ministers present at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2019.

Minister Wyatt said that, in December 2016, there were 1,987 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians receiving either dialysis or a kidney transplant.

“Of these, 13 per cent had received a kidney transplant, compared with 50 per cent of other Australians, revealing that First Nations people were nine times as likely to be reliant on dialysis,” he said.