{"id":286623,"date":"2025-07-24T01:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T01:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/286623\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T01:11:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T01:11:13","slug":"nt-health-practitioners-facing-imminent-shortage-of-life-saving-rheumatic-heart-disease-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/286623\/","title":{"rendered":"NT health practitioners facing imminent shortage of life-saving rheumatic heart disease medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northern Territory health clinics face an imminent shortage of a drug crucial to treating rheumatic heart disease.<\/p>\n

Benzathine benzylpenicillin, commonly known as bicillin, is typically administered to patients every 21 days.<\/p>\n

However NT Health has told clinicians its temporary supply of the drug had been depleted, with the issue unlikely to be resolved before September.<\/p>\n

Raychelle McKenzie has lived with rheumatic heart disease since she was eight years old and struggles to imagine the consequences of a bicillin shortage in her hometown of Maningrida, where the rate of diagnosis is among the highest in the world.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Raychelle McKenzie has lived with rheumatic heart disease since childhood and says many others in her town are living with the condition. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

“Most families I know have a case of rheumatic heart disease, I know people who have passed away from rheumatic heart disease,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We have such a high number, it’s catastrophic.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The unlikely killers near Australia’s most dangerous river crossing<\/a><\/p>\n

First Nations people living in the NT suffer disproportionately high rates of rheumatic heart disease.<\/p>\n

In Maningrida, general manager of the Mala’la Health Service Jessica Gatti is staring down the barrel of having to choose who does or doesn’t get the treatment.<\/p>\n

“It’s not a decision any clinician wants to make,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We have 174 to 178 people who receive bicillin for rheumatic heart disease on a 21 to 28 day cycle. We have 30 doses on hand.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Territory practitioners particularly affected<\/p>\n

The issues faced by Mala’la Health Service are prevalent across the territory, especially in First Nations communities.<\/p>\n

The rate of rheumatic fever diagnoses among First Nations people in the NT is the highest in Australia.<\/p>\n

Rheumatic heart disease patients are grouped into one of four priority groups, depending on the severity of their condition.<\/p>\n

While they might not be confronted with immediate danger, failing to treat patients in the second and third priority groups could have long-term ramifications, Ms Gatti said.<\/p>\n

“By maybe needing to delay the administration of bicillin to anyone who isn’t a P1 or a P2, there’s a risk they may develop worse conditions,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

It’s not just rheumatic heart disease patients who could suffer, with bicillin also used to treat syphilis.<\/p>\n

Back-up options providing little relief<\/p>\n

With its supply of French brand Extencilline depleted, NT Health advised clinicians to opt for the British Brancaster and Spanish Benzatacil brands instead.<\/p>\n

But the alternatives have been of little help to practitioners, who are still without sufficient quantities of the drug.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jessica Gatti is the general manager at Mala’la Health Service. (Supplied: Mala’la Health Service Aboriginal Corporation)<\/p>\n

“We secured and purchased 200 doses of Brancaster,” Ms Gatti said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We received 20 and were told that the remaining 180 would arrive this week.”<\/p>\n

However, this week they were told the Brancaster supply had been exhausted, and they would instead receive a supply of Benzatacil.<\/p>\n

“We found out yesterday that that has yet to arrive in Australia,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ms Gatti said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, NT Health said the shortages were not a new development.<\/p>\n

“There has been a shortage of Benzathine benzylpenicillin globally since 2023 and supplies have been carefully managed to ensure people who need this medicine continue to receive it,” the statement read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Territory health clinics face an imminent shortage of a drug crucial to treating rheumatic heart disease. Benzathine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[107103,107107,107108,107095,102205,107106,90831,102195,107101,105,302,107096,107097,107102,107100,107094,4326,107098,3912,107092,17252,17251,107099,107104,107093,64498,107105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-286623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-aboriginal-health","9":"tag-benzatacil","10":"tag-benzathine-benzyl-penicillin","11":"tag-benzathine-benzylpenicillin","12":"tag-bicillin","13":"tag-brancaster","14":"tag-drug-shortage","15":"tag-extencilline","16":"tag-first-nations-health","17":"tag-health","18":"tag-heart-disease","19":"tag-heart-medication","20":"tag-heart-medicine","21":"tag-indigenous-health","22":"tag-malala-health-service","23":"tag-maningrida","24":"tag-medication","25":"tag-medication-shortage","26":"tag-medicine","27":"tag-medicine-shortage","28":"tag-northern-territory","29":"tag-nt","30":"tag-nt-health","31":"tag-rheumatic-fever","32":"tag-rheumatic-heart-disease","33":"tag-run-out","34":"tag-syphilis-treatment","35":"tag-uk","36":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}