Western Sydney Aboriginal community health center de-funded by government due to debts

• The Department of Health announced that it was cutting AUS$2.6 million of funding from the Aboriginal Medical Service Western Sydney, a primary health care center for western Sydney’s indigenous community serving 11,000.
• A department spokesman said that the department would work with the center over the next three months to transition its patients to other health service providers.
• AMSWS had been found to have AUS$4 million in debt and had applied for funding from the government’s new Indigenous Advancement Strategy program.

“The Australian government acknowledges that this could be disruptive for patients, many of whom benefit by the community controlled model of care presently offered by AMSWS, but as this service is now no longer viable, every effort will be made to transition patients to other services, including local GPs and mental health and drug rehabilitation services.”

Read the full story at The Australian.