Death in Manus camp ‘avoidable’

SYDNEY: The death of an asylum-seeker held at a remote Australia-run Pacific camp from an infection was “preventable” and Canberra should improve healthcare services for detainees, a coroner ruled yesterday.

Under Canberra’s immigration policy, asylum-seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat are sent to detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

They are blocked from entering Australia even if they gain refugee status.

The government contracts a medical provider to deliver health services at the camps, but doctors have previously criticised the facilities as inadequate.

The Iranian detainee, Hamid Khazaei, died in September 2014, two weeks after he contracted a leg infection and was transferred from PNG’s Manus Island to the capital Port Moresby and then a Brisbane hospital.

Queensland state coroner Terry Ryan said his death “was the result of the compounding effects of multiple errors”, including delays in treating or moving him.

“Khazaei’s death was preventable,” Mr Ryan wrote in his findings.

“If Khazaei’s clinical deterioration was recognised and responded to in a timely way at the (Manus) clinic, and he was evacuated to Australia within 24 hours of developing severe sepsis, he would have survived.”

Mr Ryan said similar deaths could be avoided if asylum-seekers were sent to regions with better healthcare services, such as Australia or New Zealand.