Pledge for more doctors, services in NT

The coalition has promised to spend an extra $95.4 million on health initiatives in the Northern Territory to address challenges it is facing.

ELECTION19 SCOTT MORRISON CAMPAIGN DAY 14

Lingiari's Country Lib candidate Jacinta Price and Scott Morrison at the H on Smith Hotel in Darwin. (AAP)

The Northern Territory will have more doctors, medical services and health infrastructure under a $95.4 million healthcare plan for the state, the federal government has promised.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the funding package is aimed at dealing with the specific health challenges facing the Top End.

He revealed the commitment while on the election campaign hustings in Darwin, alongside Country Liberal candidate for Lingiari Jacinta Price and the party's candidate for Solomon Kathy Ganley.

A program that supports health professionals to work in remote clinics and Aboriginal community-run health organisations for between three to 12 weeks will be extended, at a cost of $18.7 million.

A new adult mental health centre will be set up in Darwin, costing $14 million.

A program to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with diabetic foot complications will also be among initiatives that are funded, to the tune of $9 million.

More than $40 million worth of other measures covered by the plan had been announced in the latest federal budget.

Mr Morrison says the initiatives are only possible due to the coalition's strong economic management, with both he and Ms Price contrasting the coalition's efforts with those of the local Labor government,

"We in the territory know all too well about budgets being in disarray," Ms Price told reporters.

"We are here to fix things up for the Northern Territory, because the territory deserves a lot better."

The time frame over which the money will be rolled out will vary with each project, with some to get funding in the next year and others to receive it over the next three.


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Source: AAP


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