24-07-2025
NT health practitioners facing imminent shortage of life-saving rheumatic heart disease medicine
Northern Territory health clinics face an imminent shortage of a drug crucial to treating rheumatic heart disease.
Benzathine benzylpenicillin, commonly known as bicillin, is typically administered to patients every 21 days.
However NT Health has told clinicians its temporary supply of the drug had been depleted, with the issue unlikely to be resolved before September.
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.
"Most families I know have a case of rheumatic heart disease, I know people who have passed away from rheumatic heart disease," she said.
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.
"It's not a decision any clinician wants to make," she said.
The issues faced by Mala'la Health Service are prevalent across the territory, especially in First Nations communities.
The rate of rheumatic fever diagnoses among First Nations people in the NT is the highest in Australia.
Rheumatic heart disease patients are grouped into one of four priority groups, depending on the severity of their condition.
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.
It's not just rheumatic heart disease patients who could suffer, with bicillin also used to treat syphilis.
With its supply of French brand Extencilline depleted, NT Health advised clinicians to opt for the British Brancaster and Spanish Benzatacil brands instead.
But the alternatives have been of little help to practitioners, who are still without sufficient quantities of the drug.
"We secured and purchased 200 doses of Brancaster," Ms Gatti said.
"We received 20 and were told that the remaining 180 would arrive this week."
However, this week they were told the Brancaster supply had been exhausted, and they would instead receive a supply of Benzatacil.
In a statement, NT Health said the shortages were not a new development.
"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.
