{"id":416403,"date":"2026-01-16T07:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T07:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/416403\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T07:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T07:37:15","slug":"the-nts-last-private-obstetrician-walks-away-as-maternity-services-face-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/416403\/","title":{"rendered":"The NT’s last private obstetrician walks away as maternity services face collapse\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Sophia Scaturchio gave birth to her daughter in Darwin last year, it was under the care of a private obstetrician who knew her medical history, her risks and her name.<\/p>\n

Now, as she considers a second baby, she says she would leave the Northern Territory to do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s too much of a risk,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Scaturchio endured multiple rounds of IVF and a near-miscarriage, before giving birth to her baby prematurely by caesarean section at Darwin Private Hospital.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sophia Scaturchio says if she was to have another baby, she would travel interstate to do it.\u00a0 (ABC News: Dane Hirst)<\/p>\n

Through it all though, she was cared for by the same obstetrician \u2014 continuity of care she said gave her confidence during an often frightening pregnancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that’s set to soon no longer be an option in the NT.<\/p>\n

Ms Scaturchio is among a growing number of women travelling thousands of kilometres interstate to give birth \u2014 or leaving the territory altogether<\/a> \u2014 following the sudden closure of the NT’s only private hospital maternity ward last year.<\/p>\n

\"Baby<\/p>\n

Sophia Scaturchio had her first daughter at Darwin Private Hospital under the care of a private obstetrician.\u00a0 (ABC News: Dane Hirst)<\/p>\n

Now the NT’s last private obstetrician is closing her practice, leaving women weighing up the costs of giving birth at an overstretched public hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ve only got two embryos left,” Ms Scaturchio said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t trust the [public] hospital to manage my care with best-practice, women-centred care.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Women can no longer give birth at Darwin Private Hospital.\u00a0 (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

The turning point came in June last year.<\/p>\n

Despite more than 100 women booked to give birth<\/a>, Healthscope \u2014 the operator of Darwin Private Hospital \u2014 closed its maternity ward abruptly, citing declining birth rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It meant families, many of whom had paid thousands in private health insurance to access private maternity care, were forced to give birth at the public Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH), which regularly operates under “emergency conditions”<\/a>, or travel interstate at significant personal cost.<\/p>\n

At the time, the NT government conceded it had been aware the service was struggling<\/a> for at least six months, but maintained that RDH could absorb up to 300 extra births a year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the NT government promised to “act swiftly”, almost a year on, a spokesperson from the federal health department confirmed it was still waiting to receive a final funding request from the territory for more support.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Royal Darwin Hospital has been expected to deliver up to 300 extra babies a year.\u00a0 (ABC News: Dane Hirst)<\/p>\n

In the weeks following Healthscope’s announcement, the NT government clambered to contain the fallout, announcing a series of alternatives that doctors have described as concerning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Darwin airport hotel \u2014 marketed as a “luxury retreat”<\/a> \u2014 was repurposed into a substitute maternity ward for women seeking postnatal care after giving birth at RDH.<\/p>\n

Critics have said the model is risky as midwives are only available on call, and if complications arise, women must rely on Darwin’s already overstretched ambulance service to return them to hospital.<\/p>\n

Women can also opt to receive support in their own home<\/a> after being discharged from hospital.<\/p>\n

In September, the NT government also awarded a $1.1 million contract to Claire Marks to establish a private midwifery service, Midwives in Darwin.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alia Vemuri, the NT’s last private obstetrician, had hoped to continue working in Darwin, but says staying is no longer an option. (ABC News: Michael Donnelly)<\/p>\n

For Alia Vemuri, the territory’s last remaining private obstetrician, the patchwork response has not been enough.<\/p>\n

She grew up in Darwin and returned after completing medical training to practice obstetrics in the city she calls home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for months, she’s been sending her patients interstate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In February, she will close her practice entirely.<\/p>\n

“We are the only capital city now without a private obstetric unit,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Privately-insured families can opt to stay at the Mercure Resort near Darwin Airport to receive postnatal care, after giving birth at RDH. (ABC News: Tiffany Parker)<\/p>\n

Dr Vemuri said she could no longer provide the level of care she believed her patients deserved \u2014 care that required being on call 24\/7 \u00a0\u2014 without a functioning private maternity unit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said the women she saw often had complex pregnancies where continuity of care could be the difference between catching a problem early or missing it altogether \u2014 and while some women had the luxury of leaving the NT, it was those that couldn’t who she worried for the most.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There is no continuity of care with an obstetrician in the public sector at this stage,” she said.<\/p>\n

An NT Health spokesperson said the department was still in the process of finalising a funding proposal to the Commonwealth for $10 million to upgrade infrastructure at RDH, though it is unclear how much of that would go towards maternity services.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

The lack of private maternity options in the NT is prompting some families to travel interstate to give birth.\u00a0 (ABC News: Lisa Mctiernan)<\/p>\n

They said the six delivery rooms at RDH exceeded the Australasian Health Facility Guidelines, that RDH’s capacity had “been assessed as sufficient to meet current birthing activity and the increase following the closure of Darwin Private Hospital’s maternity service”, and confirmed 12 obstetricians currently worked there.<\/p>\n

“NT Health had no role in Darwin Private Hospital’s operations or the decision-making process behind the closure of maternity services,” the NT Health spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“NT Health has taken proactive steps to partner with major private insurance providers to develop innovative private maternity models and experiences that complement our public services at Royal Darwin Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“While these models do not replicate the previous private hospital approach, they provide safe, accessible, and insurer-supported options for families.”<\/p>\n

Loading…Maternity care desert<\/p>\n

Across Australia, private maternity services are disappearing.<\/p>\n

Healthscope, which entered receivership in May last year, also shut its birthing unit in Tasmania<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Overall, at least 14 private maternity wards have closed<\/a> in the past decade.<\/p>\n

Last year, as the impacts started to unravel in the NT, women began to campaign against the “blow to women’s rights”.<\/p>\n

At one gathering in November, mothers shared accounts of giving birth at RDH<\/a> \u2014 stories they said illustrated the potential consequences of a system without continuity of care.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amy Malan, who spoke at a maternal forum in November, has become an advocate for continuity of care after losing her daughter Georgie. (ABC News: Felicity James)<\/p>\n

Among them was Amy Malan, who lost her first baby after repeatedly reporting decreased fetal movements to different medical professionals<\/a> over a three-week period.<\/p>\n

In December, federal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the private maternity issue had reached a point where “it’s been widely reported that Defence families are leaving the Northern Territory”.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

John Zorbas is the president of the Australian Medical Association’s NT branch, and a specialist emergency physician at RDH.\u00a0 (ABC News: Hamish Harty\u00a0)<\/p>\n

From the hospital floor where he works as a specialist emergency physician, John Zorbas, president of the NT branch of the Australian Medical Association, has watched the disappearance of maternity services in the territory.<\/p>\n

He said the NT government had been too slow to act.<\/p>\n

“[This] is the start of the collapse of the healthcare system,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said no additional staff or resources had been put in place to deal with the additional births at RDH, even with doctors and nurses reporting burnout.<\/p>\n

And while Darwin Private Hospital has a fully equipped maternity ward sitting empty just next door to RDH, Dr Zorbas said women were labouring in waiting rooms and their care was being delayed.<\/p>\n

“There’s legislation that allows the [NT] government to take over parts of Darwin Private,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It has operating theatres \u2026 birthing suites \u2026 they’re not being used.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

John Zorbas says some hospital staff are burning out.\u00a0 (
\n ABC News: Hamish Harty
\n )<\/p>\n

Dr Zorbas said while it was safe to birth at RDH right now, the system was edging closer to a tipping point.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Healthcare is safe until it’s not,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Part of the people who are leaving to deliver elsewhere are our workforce \u2026 they’re our doctors, they’re our nurses.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Sophia Scaturchio gave birth to her daughter in Darwin last year, it was under the care of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[45470,64,63,2690,18994,26720,51726,5249,137,500,42415,4082,219697,43844,219699,44853,8867,17188,118116,219696,58045,219698],"class_list":["post-416403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ama","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-medical-association","tag-baby","tag-births","tag-continuity-of-care","tag-darwin","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-healthscope","tag-hospital","tag-john-zorbas","tag-maternity","tag-maternity-services","tag-mother","tag-northern-territory","tag-nt-government","tag-private-health-care","tag-private-maternity","tag-royal-darwin-hospital","tag-sophia-scaturchio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}