More than 600 pairs of thongs are heading to remote communities on the Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait to make sure barefoot patients can board flights to access health care.
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Nurses sparked the idea of a thong donation drive after incidents where patients arrived for flights without appropriate footwear and were unable to board.
Cook MP Cynthia Lui said the donation would allow a stock of thongs to be stored at airports and health care centres in the state's north, so they could be provided to clients and patients before they boarded flights.
"People who turn up without appropriate footwear are often unable to board their scheduled flights to access necessary health care in larger centres," she said.
"Without footwear, they miss their flights and their entire travel plans and clinical appointments must be rescheduled.
"This initiative is a simple way to ensure people are not stopped from accessing the only specialist health services that may be available to them."
Staff at the Caboolture and Kilcoy hospitals organised the collection, sending boxes of the donated thongs 1600 kilometres from Brisbane to Cairns via the Spirit of Queensland train this week and accepted by the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the donation would benefit dozens of people in isolated communities on the Cape York Peninsula.
