Manus Island: health experts push for right to assess refugees and asylum seekers
A group of Australia’s most senior clinicians has offered to conduct free health assessments of the refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island to ensure they are not being deprived their human rights.
In an open letter signed by 18 current and former heads of peak medical bodies and royal colleges of medicine, the clinicians said they were “deeply concerned” about the ongoing physical and mental health of the men who were removed from the decommissioned detention centre last week.
They also expressed concern over the damage being done to Australia’s reputation.
“We believe that the humanitarian issues take precedence over politics,” the letter said. “This is a matter beyond immigration and border control but one that affects the health of people and others’ perceptions of our great nation.”
The senior clinicians, who said they wrote in their individual capacities, said the reported poor hygiene and sanitation, limited electricity and inadequate living conditions would all exacerbate disease and ill health.
They said they were not aware of any accurate information on the health of the former detainees and offered to assist in an “immediate, independent review” of those still on Manus.
“We are willing to conduct this review pro-bono, arranging the appropriate mix of clinical specialties,” they said. “We would require the Australian government to negotiate the diplomatic permissions and officially sanction travel to and within PNG, as well as agree to clinical assessment of willing individuals.”
A standoff lasting more than three weeks came to an end on Thursday and Friday after Papua New Guinea police and immigration officials forcibly removed all remaining men who had refused to leave over concerns for their safety in the Lorengau community.
Officers used metal batons against the men to get them on to busses. Many have since reported injuries and alleged further beatings, including the Kurdish Iranian refugee and journalist Behrouz Boochani, who was targeted for arrest on Thursday.
Monday’s letter said the men had a universal right to health and wellbeing enshrined in the UN charter, which should not be affected by their political and citizenship status.
“All politicians regardless of their political party should respect the human right to health and themselves be strong advocates of ‘health for all’ without discrimination.”
Signatories included four past presidents of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and the current and immediate past president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, as well as a former head of the Australian Medical Association, and mental health expert Prof Patrick McGorry.
McGorry, who is president of the Schizophrenia International Research Society and the International Association for Youth Mental Health, is also a former Australian of the year who signed another open letter on the refugee issue last week.
That letter, from 12 former Australians of the year, condemned the crisis on Manus and called for the Australian Medical Association to be allowed access to assess and treat the refugees and asylum seekers.
“The AMA has made many representations on this matter, both publicly and in private but, with a worsening and more dangerous situation emerging on Manus, the federal council strongly believes that urgent action and answers are needed,” the AMA president, Michael Gannon, said.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, suggested the prominent Australians should write a thank you letter to Australian Border Force and the navy instead for stopping deaths at sea when people sought asylum by boat in large numbers.
Criticism continues to mount over the Manus Island situation but the Australian government has remained steadfast.
On Sunday Médecins Sans Frontières revealed it was also being denied access to the men. MSF had arrived on Manus on Wednesday with approval from the PNG immigration department but were denied entry to the centre. After the men were removed and taken to the transit centre MSF was still denied access to the accommodation and the medical clinic.
The president of MSF Australia, Stewart Condon, told Guardian Australia they were particularly concerned about the health of men with psychiatric conditions and whose supply of medication likely ran out more than 10 days ago, based on earlier reports they were given extra doses to see through the transition of the centre’s closure.
Last week the UNHCR said the humanitarian crisis was humanmade and entirely preventable, and a “damning indictment of a policy meant to avoid Australia’s international obligations”.