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[17 September 2007] - The Australian Federal Government's health checks of indigenous children in the Northern Territory have been labelled inefficient, ineffective and potentially unethical by a lobby group representing NT Aboriginal health services. In a leaked document based on information from briefings by Commonwealth authorities, the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) told its 26 member services that checks had been conducted on about 1700 children so far – just 10 per cent of those deemed at risk. AMSANT says it believes the data generated by health check authorities "seriously underestimates" the levels of disease among Aboriginal children, particularly ear, nose, throat and dental disease. About 30 per cent of children checked have required follow-up treatment for any kind of disease, even though previous research has found 91 per cent of indigenous children in the NT have ear diseases alone, the document says. Twenty per cent of children checked have had dental referrals, even though the rate of dental disease in indigenous children in the NT is thought to be around 60 to 70 per cent. "This suggests that visiting health teams are failing to identify treatable disease in children," the document says. "The reason is likely to be poor training/skills on the part of the health teams and/or a tendency for the teams to miss children who are in need of treatment." Government response But a Health Department spokeswoman said more than 2000 child health checks had been conducted since July 10. "This is a 200 per cent increase in the number of child health checks undertaken since May 2006 under (Medicare) item 708 (Indigenous Child Health Check) in the NT," she said. "Contrary to the claims made, the Federal Government has already announced $83m to conduct both child health checks and to undertake all the necessary follow-up care. The document says that by accepted medical standards the health check program is "inconsistent with evidence-based practice and is potentially unethical". The intervention is also failing to address the capacity for follow-up treatment, the document says. "No resources have been committed to improve the present services that are already struggling to keep up with the high burden of disease present in remote communities," it reads. "By seeking to impose a medical intervention program external to the normal healthcare system, the (Government's) intervention is failing to gather good quality data and is inefficient in treating children in a comprehensive, sustainable fashion." A spokesman today said AMSANT was very supportive of the child health checks, but stood by the concerns expressed in the document. The department spokeswoman said a range of key stakeholders were invited and participated in two forums held to work out the detail of how follow-up services would be provided. "Offers have been made to existing service providers to become directly involved in conducting child health checks, through to-date they have not taken up these options," she said. She said the child health check was designed to identify significant health issues and to plan follow-up treatment. "It is both comprehensive and evidence-based," the spokeswoman said.