However the 67-year-old grandmother has been forced to live across the Timor Sea in Darwin for more than four years to access life-saving dialysis treatment because of her kidney disease.

That has kept Mrs Puruntatameri separated from her husband of 42 years, four children, three grandchildren and one great-grandson.

She has lived in crowded hostels with other indigenous renal patients paying $200-$300 a week, a hefty sum for people from the Tiwis.

Some patients even end up "living in the long grass" in Darwin - which means homeless - according to local Arafura Labor MP and Tiwi Islander Lawrence Costa.

However this week Mrs Puruntatameri said she was excited to be moving back to her home and hoped other Tiwi Islanders in Darwin would do the same, with the opening of a renal facility with dialysis at Pirlangimpi on Melville Island.

"It is very important to me and my people because this is the first ever renal unit," she told AAP.

"So I can come back and be with my husband and my children and grandchildren and see them grow.

Kidney disease is a major problem in the Northern Territory, especially among indigenous people who are more than twice as likely to have renal failure because of poorer health outcomes.

One of the most successful ever indigenous musicians Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was suffering from kidney disease when he died in 2017 at age 46.

NT Health Minster Natasha Fyles, who along with local Arafura MP and Tiwi Islander Lawrence Costa opened the $700,000 Pirlangimpi Renal Ready Room, said 700 people in the Territory currently needed dialysis but the number was predicted to go above 1000 in coming years.

Dialysis performs the role of kidneys when they fail by filtering the blood and removing waste and excess fluid.

Gideon Pangiraminni, whose mother Marcia died from kidney failure and had led the campaign for a dialysis room in town, gave an an emotional speech to open the centre .

"It is up to us mob to stop this, we have got to educate our kids on eating good food and exercise and all that stuff," he said.

"If we don't do that we'll get really sick."

"It's a big thing having dialysis here, we want to help our people to come back home."

Ms Fyles said all residents with kidney disease would receive training along with a loved one/carer in how to use the dialysis machine.

A key part of tackling kidney disease was supporting pregnant women, Ms Fyles said.

"We know that the higher the birth weight of a baby, the better the health outcomes they have," she told reporters.

"So we're working with women when they're pregnant so that they can look after themselves and their unborn baby and then following that through into those vital first 1000 days."

Australian Associated Press