THE doctor who brought to light claims of substandard medical care for asylum-seekers on Christmas Island – including detainees’ medicines being thrown away – has slammed authorities for what he calls a failure to act.
John-Paul Sanggaran last year helped prepare a 92-page letter, co-signed by 14 other doctors who had worked on Christmas Island, which highlighted concerns about standards of care on the island.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said there was “dispute about matters raised” in the letter, which was directed at the doctors’ employer International Health and Medical Services (IHMS) and later obtained by media.
Now Dr Sanggaran has spoken publicly about the response it provoked, saying treatment of asylum-seekers is “shameful to all those that call themselves Australian” and too little has changed.
“Despite over 18,000 words of detailed concerns there has been no adequate response,” Mr Sanggaran told a University of NSW symposium.
“I in fact fear repercussions because I have spoken out … There are many individuals for (whom) I have ongoing concern. I do not know how they have progressed.
“Unfortunately, due to my experience working in that system, I do not have confidence that they somehow now receive appropriate care.”
In his UNSW address, Dr Sanggaran said asylum-seekers could expect to be bundled off boats, rushed through medical assessments and separated from important medical records and medicines.
“These medications were in fact being destroyed by a couple of nurses popping pills into a rubbish bin, with no records being kept of what medications were being destroyed or who they belonged to,” he said.
Dr Sanggaran said he was also aware of asylum seekers losing important medical aids including glasses, hearing aids and parts of a prosthetic leg.
He said assessments had been conducted in “haste”, and there were long delays in transferring those with specialist medical needs off the island.
“We were told that the department of immigration was accepting the risk of delaying transfers. I cannot accept that a governmental department can absolve me from my professional responsibility to my patients,” Dr Sanggaran said.
“It cannot remove my duty of care.”