The medevac bill has passed. So, what hope for the sick on Nauru?

The initial feeling of relief and hope for these desperate people has now been replaced by a dawning realisation that nothing has changed. Two new developments spring to mind:

The announcement by the Nauru government that it will not accept telehealth consultations as evidence by its overseas medical referral committee. This leaves sick people at the mercies of a committee staffed by Nauruan doctors that then can be overridden by the minister for multicultural affairs, Barina Waqa, daughter of the president, with no reason given.

Sick refugees on Manus and Nauru to be sent to Christmas Island not mainland Read more

As each refugee attracts $50,000 a year in visa fees alone, and Nauru depends on the processing centre for a large part of its income, it is easy to see why requests may be declined. Quite apart from the Nauruans viewing any outside (IHMS) suggestions as a slur on their facilities and staff expertise, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton know full well that they can now direct concerns about refugees’ health to a country that could simply refuse to respond.

The suggestion by the The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) that independent assessors from Australia must go to Nauru to see the patients who have been waiting for years for assessment and treatment would need Nauru to grant them visas to enter the country. This seems highly unlikely, as the Nauruan government already charges a non-refundable fee of $8,000 for journalists to visit, and would no doubt wish to keep its facilities at the hospital and the expertise of its staff away from outside interest.

The service launched by Médecins Sans Frontières to offer a telehealth service to refugees and Nauruans alike will also likely be banned or ignored by the Nauruan government as an example of unwanted outside interference, and even if it does continue unofficially, any recommendations from specialists will likely be ignored by the committee.

The news that Christmas Island will be reopened, and people may be transferred there , despite its medical services being basic and ill-equipped to investigate or treat the kind of chronic cases that have been on Nauru and Manus for so long, has been described as an act of ‘bastardry’ by Greens senator Nick McKim. This is yet another way for the government to deny people the care that they desperately need.

Nine facts about the medical evacuation bill Read more

If the present situation continues, a panel of independent doctors flown to Christmas Island could see for themselves the level of illness and neglect that exists amongst the refugee populations of Manus and Nauru. That’s assuming the Nauruan government actually let them leave. The Australian government is well aware of this and I suspect will be working frantically to prevent the scale of the problem getting into the public eye.

All the above do nothing to help these sick people who have suffered enough. The aim of the medevac bill was to give people the correct treatment. The government is now, by its cowardice and legal sophistry, continuing to play games with people’s health. There are people on Nauru who have tumours and are going deaf; who have kidney stones and are in excruciating pain daily – quite apart from a monumental psychiatric health burden. Will Scott Morrison weep when another refugee kills himself or herself ?

By his actions, he is knowingly pushing desperate people to the brink. This is worse than bastardry; this is a state-sanctioned crime against humanity.