Nauru, the Pacific nation where Australia has detained hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers for half a decade, has banned overseas doctors from treating patients on the island via video or phone calls.



The ban, laid out in regulations dated Feb. 22, 2019 was put in place two weeks after international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced it would start up a telehealth service to continue to treat its patients on Nauru after being forcibly ejected by the Nauruan government in October last year.

MSF has now withdrawn that remote telehealth service, citing fear its patients could be caught in the middle of a "bizarre vendetta" between the charity and the Nauruan government.

The ban also comes amid furious debate in Australia about the health of the people detained on Nauru and on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

After hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers were transferred to Australia for medical treatment in recent years, politicians from opposition and minor parties passed a law dubbed the "medevac bill" to make the process easier. The new law allows two doctors to recommend a medical transfer from offshore detention, however this can be overruled by the home affairs minister, in which case a medical panel makes a final decision.

On Feb. 15 Nauru passed a law banning overseas medical transfers on the basis of telehealth consultations, and stated that a Nauru-run committee determines whether or not a patient is transferred from the island.

The new regulations on Feb. 22 ban altogether any person providing telemedicine to people on Nauru, defining telemedicine as healthcare delivered via audio, video or any other means of communication between an overseas doctor and a patient in Nauru.

Doctors who flout the ban can have their registration cancelled on Nauru. There are exceptions for staff at the Republic of Nauru Hospital (RONH), and for doctors on the island who obtain permission from Nauru's director of medical services.