Thread by @manukoreri

Today March 6, World #Lymphoedema Awareness Day. Whilst there's rightly growing support for care for cancer-caused lymphoedema; sepsis, infection & trauma-caused lymphoedema (mostly affecting Blak & Pasifika communities) is completely sidelined from Aust care pathways /1 of 10

https://twitter.com/MoniqueLymph/status/1630859524897906688

Without taking away the necessary support cancer survivors get, @Mark_Butler_MP & @PictonChris can do so much more to provide @SAHealth & @MedicareGovAu benefits to support preventative care, for a disease that affects over 70% of Australians who survive physical trauma... /2

The denial of care for my own lymphoedema since 1998, resulted in massive ongoing health effects. 28 further sepsis/cellulitis episodes, including 20 high dependency hospitalisations. It has shut me out of the workforce, & robbed me of the best years of my work & life. /3

Failure to provide basic preventative care, has resulted in massive acute care costs, inability for me to contribute to taxation, prevented me employing taxpayers, & hobbled my human security initiatives that potentially could have prevented significant harm across the region /4

Funding preventative lymphoedema treatment makes economic & productive sense, by preventing needless acute care expenditure, & allowing sufferers to have functional capacity, energy to contribute, & not be isolated from society. /5

The only reason health ministers continue to deny support to #lymphoedema treatment (or restrict it to a few narrowly defined candidates of only 4 types of breast cancer, ignoring all other causes of type 2 lymphoedema) is wilful ignorance can only be considered eugenicist. /6

Currently, the only way access for people on disability support is via Medicare #EnhancedPrimaryCare scheme. Yet MLD practictioners refuse to accept EPC, because it only pays $54 in Medicare rebate, for a total of 5 appointments/year (medically useless). /7

Yet making a weekly bulk billed #lymphoedema Medicare item for 60min Manual Lymphatic Drainage sessions at $120 each ($6240/year), is both life changing &roughly the same as 1 ICU bed night (2019 mean $5286). Acute lymphoedema caused cellulitis/sepsis avg 6 ICU bed nights) /8

This #LymphoedemaAwarenessDay, will @PictonChris & @Mark_Butler_MP show decency & commit to funding ALL lymphoedema treatment, & give certainty to survivors like incredible advocate @MoniqueLymph & many others? Will you fund research? Will you provide MBBS treatment items? /9

if you would like to help my own access to urgent treatment, please help out at gofund.me/48259837

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