The funding, supplied over a three-year term, will help extend the centre’s primary care services and bridge the gap amid rising service provision costs.
The NSW government has pledged $1 million to the state’s Asylum Seekers Centre to employ extra clinical staff and expand the centre’s primary care clinics.
The funding, set to be provided over a three-year cycle, will also assist in offsetting treatment costs for patients visiting the centre not eligible to access the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
“This funding will allow people seeking asylum to access critical healthcare services they otherwise wouldn’t be able to,” said NSW health minister Ryan Park.
“Without access to the valuable work of the Asylum Seekers Centre, patients would often have nowhere else to turn but to our already busy emergency departments.”
Established in 1993, the Asylum Seekers Centre is a non-profit organisation aimed at connecting people seeking asylum with a range of support and services, including primary healthcare services provided via a specialist, nurse-led initiative using volunteer GPs and other specialists.
Visits to the centre’s GP clinics have increased by 81% since June 2022, according to the announcement confirmed, with the centre also faced with increasingly complex presentations due to rising rates of mental illness and growing demand for pharmaceuticals compounded by cost-of-living pressures.
Frances Rush OAM, CEO of the Asylum Seekers Centre, said the additional funding was a significant boon for the organisation.
““The Asylum Seekers Centre is appreciative of both the Minister’s support for the Centre’s Health Clinic and the recognition of the often-precarious plight that people seeking asylum in our state face,” she said.
“Without access to the Centre’s pharmaceutical services, many people seeking asylum would not have the means to access life-saving medication – a priority healthcare right for all.”
“This funding will go a long way to help address the great need in our community, enhancing the health and lives of people seeking asylum.”