Mental Health Issues Dominate Nauru, Manus Asylum Seekers Medical Admissions
Medical centres on Nauru and Manus Island are providing hundreds of consultations each month to asylum seekers for mental health concerns, an independent health panel has found.
The figures are contained in a report by the Independent Health Assessment Panel tabled in Parliament, that paints a grim picture of the health of 900 men in offshore detention.
The release of the report comes as the government tries to repeal legislation giving doctors more say in the medical transfer of asylum seekers and refugees from Manus and Nauru to mainland Australia for treatment. The Medevac repeal bill was expected to be debated in Parliament yesterday.
It follows a meeting between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape who is demanding a deadline be set for the end of offshore processing on Manus Island. While no date has been set, Mr Marape said after the meeting that the two countries would work on a “mutually workable” solution to close the immigration detention facilities.
Primary health services ‘reasonable’
The majority of admissions made to Nauru and PNG medical clinics were for mental health concerns. During the first three months of the year, nearly 6000 consultations were provided for 237 refugees and asylum seekers at the Nauru Regional Processing Centre medical centre.
More than 40 were admitted for treatment, predominantly for mental health concerns, with the longest stay being 44 days.
In PNG, nearly 2000 consultations were provided to asylum seekers and refugees, resulting in 17 individuals being admitted.
The panel is yet to visit the regional processing facilities, instead they have been relying on a virtual tour of the Pacific International Hospital in Port Moresby and clinical reports from other services.
The panel described the quality of primary care as “reasonable”, but noted specialist medical care was not reliably available on Manus Island and noted there was no access to high quality in-patient psychiatric care in Nauru.
“Patients with severe mental illness and at high risk of suicide should be transferred to a hospital with appropriate inpatient psychiatric care,” the panel’s report states.
Asylum seeker boat intercepted
The government has argued that the Medevac legislation would lead to a restart in the people smuggling trade and is likely to seize on reports that a boat carrying Sri Lankan asylum seekers was intercepted off Australia’s coast. It’s understood about 20 asylum seekers were on the vessel, which was stopped by the Australian Border Force at the weekend.
The asylum seekers were due to be taken to Christmas Island before being flown to Colombo on a government charter jet.
It is the third asylum seeker boat to come to Australia since the federal election.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton declined to comment on operational matters.
“The Australian Government’s policy is to intercept any vessel seeking to reach Australia illegally
and to safely return those on board to their point of departure or country of origin,” a spokesperson for the minister said.
“Under Operation Sovereign Borders, potential illegal immigrants have zero chance of getting to Australia illegally by boat.”