THE resignation of a third of the Royal Darwin Hospital's surgeons will not put patients at risk, Northern Territory Health Minister Kon Vatskalis says.

ONE-THIRD of Royal Darwin Hospital's general surgeons have resigned because they are being treated as second-class specialists, a peak medical body said.

SCIENTISTS have confirmed the oily substance that washed up on a Northern Territory beach on Tuesday did not come from a leaking oil rig in the Timor Sea.

FIVE surgeons have resigned from a Northern Territory hospital as a result of an unresolved pay dispute.

OIL from a leaking rig in the Timor Sea may have washed up on a Northern Territory beach.