Australia accused of blocking doctors?visit to asylum seekers
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《英国医生杂志》
The Australian government has been accused of pressuring a tiny Pacific Island nation to block the visit of an independent team of specialists to review the health conditions of asylum seekers held there.
The team was offered visas to Nauru after its head doctor, Kieren Keke, said the island抯 only hospital had struggled to cope with a 30 day hunger strike by up to 45 mainly Afghan asylum seekers who were detained trying to enter Australia.
The hunger strike was suspended recently after the Australian specialists announced plans to visit the island, and it was agreed that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would review the situation in Afghanistan.
But when Canberra promised to bolster medical aid to Nauru, with extra staff and resources, the island republic withdrew its invitation to the team. The federal government has since strongly denied claims that it bullied Nauru into not granting the specialists?visas.
Immigration minister Amanda Vanstone said: "The Australian government抯 offer to Nauru is certainly not conditional on whether any other doctors go and look at whatever the Nauran government is happy for them to look at."
The convenor of the Alliance of Health Professionals for Asylum Seekers, psychiatrist Louise Newman, said that although the offer of additional support was welcome, there was still no guarantee that health services would meet basic standards of care.
"We were informed that Dr Keke is currently of the opinion that additional medical support is not needed because the Commonwealth has offered him medical support."
The group was to have included a clinical psychologist, an emergency physician, a general physician, a general practitioner with experience in treating refugees, and an interpreter.
Dr Newman said the group was extremely concerned about the health of a number of the 284 asylum seekers, including 93 children, who have been on the island for more than two years.
In September 2001, Australia agreed to an initial $A20m (￡8.5m; $US15.3m; �12.6m) aid package, in return for Nauru accepting thousands of asylum seekers to be kept in camps under the so called "Pacific solution."
But the island, once rich in phosphate, claimed that Australia has shirked its responsibilities for the policy, which has proved politically controversial, and that hospital facilities on the island have been overstretched by the hunger strikers, whose applications for asylum in Australia have been rejected.
The refugee group known as A Just Australia accused the Australian government of bribing Nauru with the aid offer.
"This is another example of the Australian government bullying Nauru," spokesman Greg Barns said.
"One cannot rule out the possibility of a hunger strike recommencing given that it was the prospect of an independent medical team coming to Nauru that was a major reason for the suspension of the hunger strike."(Sydney Christopher Zinn)
The team was offered visas to Nauru after its head doctor, Kieren Keke, said the island抯 only hospital had struggled to cope with a 30 day hunger strike by up to 45 mainly Afghan asylum seekers who were detained trying to enter Australia.
The hunger strike was suspended recently after the Australian specialists announced plans to visit the island, and it was agreed that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would review the situation in Afghanistan.
But when Canberra promised to bolster medical aid to Nauru, with extra staff and resources, the island republic withdrew its invitation to the team. The federal government has since strongly denied claims that it bullied Nauru into not granting the specialists?visas.
Immigration minister Amanda Vanstone said: "The Australian government抯 offer to Nauru is certainly not conditional on whether any other doctors go and look at whatever the Nauran government is happy for them to look at."
The convenor of the Alliance of Health Professionals for Asylum Seekers, psychiatrist Louise Newman, said that although the offer of additional support was welcome, there was still no guarantee that health services would meet basic standards of care.
"We were informed that Dr Keke is currently of the opinion that additional medical support is not needed because the Commonwealth has offered him medical support."
The group was to have included a clinical psychologist, an emergency physician, a general physician, a general practitioner with experience in treating refugees, and an interpreter.
Dr Newman said the group was extremely concerned about the health of a number of the 284 asylum seekers, including 93 children, who have been on the island for more than two years.
In September 2001, Australia agreed to an initial $A20m (￡8.5m; $US15.3m; �12.6m) aid package, in return for Nauru accepting thousands of asylum seekers to be kept in camps under the so called "Pacific solution."
But the island, once rich in phosphate, claimed that Australia has shirked its responsibilities for the policy, which has proved politically controversial, and that hospital facilities on the island have been overstretched by the hunger strikers, whose applications for asylum in Australia have been rejected.
The refugee group known as A Just Australia accused the Australian government of bribing Nauru with the aid offer.
"This is another example of the Australian government bullying Nauru," spokesman Greg Barns said.
"One cannot rule out the possibility of a hunger strike recommencing given that it was the prospect of an independent medical team coming to Nauru that was a major reason for the suspension of the hunger strike."(Sydney Christopher Zinn)