Melbourne hospital brings in ‘aboriginal menu’ for indigenous patients

The Royal Melbourne Hospital has created a “indigenous menu” with four special meals designed for aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.

The hospital said the Mob Menu was created by its First Nations Health Unit and Dietetics Department, and aimed to “improve the hospital experience” for aboriginal patients.

The meals include lemon myrtle roast chicken with potato and vegetables, baked barramundi with lemon myrtle, kangaroo sausages with potato pumpkin mash and steamed green beans, and Keen’s curried sausages and rice.

“We received feedback from our First Nation (sic) consumers and worked with a supplier to develop the Mob meals, which includes curried sausages, kangaroo sausages and barramundi and lemon myrtle roast chicken,” said Aimee, a Food Service Dietician at the hospital.

The menu was devised after a study conducted by the team of meals at 67 in-patient hospitals Australia-wide found that 19% provided specific food items for aboriginals, while 72% provided halal food and 52% had kosher meals.

The announcement sparked anger from some Australians, who called the move “divisive” and said the hospital should be allocating funds for all patients equally, resulting in the hospital deleting more than 100 comments from its Instagram post on the subject and turning commenting off.

“Wow… because among all the issues in the health system at the moment, this should be at the top of the list,” read one since-deleted comment.

“Can you be non-indigenous and still have it?” asked another.

The move comes after it was revealed in October that another major Melbourne hospital, St Vincent’s, was giving aboriginal patients fast-tracked urgent care over all others at its emergency department.

St Vincent’s Hospital requires all indigenous patients to be treated within 30 minutes of arrival, meaning that they are prioritised over non-indigenous patients who are in more urgent triage categories.

Header image: Left, some of the team behind The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Mob Menu. Right, four of the aboriginal meals (RMH).

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