Vulnerable Indigenous elders wishing to leave the remote South Australian Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands to self-isolate amid the coronavirus pandemic have been denied support from SA Health.

Key points: The APY Art Centre Collective has been working to evacuate Indigenous elders from remote APY areas of South Australia

The APY Art Centre Collective has been working to evacuate Indigenous elders from remote APY areas of South Australia Elders that wished to do so would relocate to a boarding house in Adelaide

Elders that wished to do so would relocate to a boarding house in Adelaide The South Australian Government believes it is safer for Aboriginal people to remain in their communities

For several weeks, the APY Art Centre Collective (APYACC) has been coordinating with on-the-ground health services to relocate at least 30 elders and vulnerable people to Wiltja Anangu School boarding house in Adelaide, which is currently unused by school children.

The collective, which brings together people from seven communities and represents artists between the ages of 18 and 97, had warned SA Health it would be "impossible to slow the spread of the virus on the APY Lands".

"Elders and vulnerable people self-nominated to go and now they are heartbroken," APY Council chair Sally Scales said.

"I would love to know what plan SA Health has when you have the health officials on the ground saying get our vulnerable, get our elderly out.

"What is SA Health's plan once it [coronavirus] is out there? Who are they relying on?

"It's actually a luxury to self-isolate in cities or across the country or across the world when you are not in the poverty line.

"Unfortunately [with] most of our houses in the APY Lands, or any remote community, you are looking at households that have at least have five or six people."

All non-essential travel to remote communities has been restricted and self-isolation is required before people enter.

"People are petrified but then there are also people who think, 'Oh it's not a big deal'," said Ms Scales, who added she would keep pushing for an evacuation.

"I'm mentally preparing myself to say goodbye to family members and generations of teachers and, you know, our cultural keepers of knowledge."

APY Indigenous elder and artist Betty Muffler signed the letter calling for support to relocate. ( Supplied )

Support for plan from healthcare professionals

The collective proposed chartering a bus, providing staff for support and running a creative program. It also planned to bring in relevant medical service providers.

It had the support of funding partners. They recommended SA Health would provide health assessments on arrival.

Paul Torzillo, a senior respiratory physician at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney and the Nganampa Health Council medical director, had advised in the evacuation plan.

He said he supported evacuating now if elders and vulnerable people were "housed, fed, showered, with a healthcare provision for four to six months, and they are not able to return to the lands, and people from the lands can't visit them".

But Professor Torzillo said it would need policing.

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National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation chief executive Pat Turner said while evacuating the elders involved risk, leaving them in the APY Lands would be riskier as "they will be the first to be impacted when the virus arrives, which it will".

"I believe in Aboriginal self-determination and I believe it should be supported," she told The Drum.

"While I appreciate the risks, I still think community's wishes should outweigh those concerns and everything should be done to facilitate the evacuation."

APY artists issue direct collective call for help

Groups of remote artists pleaded for help from SA Health in emails, saying it was a case of when, not if, COVID-19 would hit their communities.

Amata artist Sylvia Ken, who has already lost a daughter to respiratory and heart conditions, is worried for her other daughter's welfare, as well as her mother's health.

Sylvia Ken wants to move to be closer to hospitals. ( Supplied: APY Art Centre Collective )

"We know that Amata is a long way from Adelaide and Alice Springs, we know that our clinics on the lands are small and with a few staff members, we know that we need to stay safe in a place that is protected from the disease and that is close to hospitals," she said.

Ms Scales said the turnaround for some patients picked up by the Royal Flying Doctors service can be well over four hours.

"So if they end up with a patient who ends up with COVID-19 and it's severe, it's an eight-hour trip to Adelaide," she said.

Artists from the Mimili Maku arts community also wrote that social distancing was impossible.

"Anangu don't travel by main roads, we know many ways that cannot be policed. Travel to other parts of the country will continue over the coming months out of cultural and personal reasons," they wrote.

There are also reports of busloads of Anangu people returning to the remote region — potentially risking transmission.

"Anangu live in crowded housing where it is impossible to maintain appropriate hygiene in line with the current recommendations, to mitigate risk of exposure," the APYACC stated.

However, not everyone in the APY community is in favour of the relocation plan.

APY Lands general manager Richard King told ABC Adelaide the idea could potentially do more harm than good.

"We have no coronavirus on the APY. This group of people want to take them to where the coronavirus is," Mr King said.

SA Health not in favour of the measure, says 'active planning' underway

A South Australian Government spokesperson said healthcare planning for the region was being reassessed. It will not support the proposed relocation.

"Current public health advice relating to COVID-19 is that it is safer for Aboriginal people to remain in their communities," the spokesperson said.

"Therefore the South Australian Government does not support the movement of Anangu off the APY Lands at this time."

However, the APYACC disagreed, saying the group of vulnerable individuals included in the proposed evacuation plan currently do not meet the requirements for support from other local APY service providers.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the situation is complex.

"What is the safest thing for the Aboriginal people of the APY Land, which is a very easily quarantined place in a way, to stop people going in?" he said.

"Is it better for them to be sheltering in place, or to come into this hostel in Adelaide? I'm leaving that at the moment with colleagues in my department, but also those in SA Health."

Speaking on The Drum, ACTU president Michele O'Neil said the South Australian Government needed to trust the judgement of Indigenous communities.

"We have to listen to these communities, make sure the action that's been taken to protect the elders is everything that they're asking for and I cannot believe, really, that the South Australian Government hasn't got on to this, and got on to this immediately," she said.