A TWENTY-year-old man had to be flown to Royal Darwin Hospital after he was injured in a horse-riding accident on a remote cattle station last Wednesday.
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The man had gone for a ride at Dungowan Station - about 180km south-west of Katherine - at around 2pm last Wednesday when the accident happened.
The man came off his horse and suffered an initial loss of consciousness, a fractured wrist and head injury.
He got back on the horse and rode back to the station, where staff found him on his horse.
Due to the concussion suffered in the fall the man could not remember either the fall or how he got back to the station.
He was treated by staff at the station before he was driven to neighbouring Montijinni Station.
CareFlight Director Ian Badham said due to Dungowan’s airstrip being too short, the man had to be taken to Montijinni- which has a regulation length airstrip - to allow for a CareFlight aircraft to land and pick up the patient.
“A CareFlight doctor and flight nurse treated the man and flew him to Darwin, where he arrived at 8.30pm on Wednesday night,” Mr Badham said.
“The delay to get treatment for the man highlights the need for remote cattle stations to have an airstrip capable of taking an aeromedical aeroplane.
Mr Badham said anyone suffering effects of concussion, with memory loss, should be referred via their District Medical Officer for potential transfer to Royal Darwin Hospital to ensure there was no long-term adverse injury or bleed into the brain.
“In the past there have been cases around Australia of a person suffering concussion, being put to bed then found dead the next morning as a result of bleeding into the brain,” Mr Badham said.