Medical chief claims Australia has not trained or readied health workers for rapid deployment in the event of an outbreak

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The Department of Health has rejected claims that Australia’s medical teams are unprepared for rapid deployment to assist in the fight against Ebola.

The chief medical officer, Chris Baggoley, told Senate estimates on Wednesday that the health minister Peter Dutton had not requested Australian medical assistance teams (Ausmat) be readied to be sent to west Africa or neighbouring countries in the event of an Ebola outbreak.

Nor had Australia “trained the Ausmat team specifically in PPE [personal protective equipment training]”, he added. Health workers would need up to a fortnight of training before being ready to be deployed to Ebola-affected countries.

Greens senator Richard Di Natale said: “The prime minister has flown to Papua New Guinea to discuss preparations should Ebola reach our region. However this morning we have learned that Australia’s health personnel have not yet received the specific training required for deployment in the field.”

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said: “The Abbott government must immediately explain why they have been assuring neighbouring countries Australia is ready to assist them in the event of an Ebola outbreak, when that’s clearly not the case.”

But the Department of Health said Baggoley’s statements had been misconstrued and that teams which had been prepared to deal with any outbreaks in Australia would be ready to be sent overseas.

“From a domestic perspective the country is well prepared to deal with Ebola. I want to make that very, very clear. States and territories have been training their staff and running exercises in their designated hospitals for a while now,” said head of the department, Martin Bowles.

“There are a number of case workers – around the 20 mark – who are fully trained to care for Ebola patients and we would obviously use them in first instance for any immediate response.

“These people have been vaccinated, they’re used to the climate, they’ve been doing all sorts of work in this area to be prepared.

“So to say that we are not ready to do what we need to do is not true,” Bowles said.

The federal government has been reluctant to deploy Australian health workers to Africa to assist with the outbreak until an “iron-clad” evacuation route is finalised.

It has pledged its commitment to helping fight the disease in the region.

Labor has labelled health minister Peter Dutton’s response by to the outbreak as “uninterested and chaotic”.