THERE are calls to reinstate two doctors who were stood down for speaking to the media about the handling of the recent Ebola scare in far north Queensland.
THE doctors from Cairns Hospital, were reportedly suspended on full pay for raising concerns that are now being investigated by an independent panel appointed by Queensland Health.
The president of the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation, Dr Tony Sara, has called for their immediate reinstatement, saying the suspension is about keeping doctors under control. He said one of the doctors was representing the Medical Staff Association when he spoke to the media about the recent case of Cairns nurse Sue Ellen Kovack, who was released from hospital on Monday after twice testing negative to Ebola. “It is very appropriate that he raises issues of concern where he believes that they have not necessarily been properly addressed or dealt with by management,” Dr Sara told ABC Radio on Tuesday. Cairns Hospital officials have previously defended the handling of Ms Kovack’s case despite some concerns among staff about the effectiveness of her isolation when she presented with a fever after returning from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. Ms Kovack, who was released from hospital on Monday but remains in isolation at home, is pleading for more action by the international community to stop the deadly disease. Her pleas were made on the same day Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced no Australian health workers would be sent to Ebola-ravaged west Africa. Health Minister Lawrence Springborg says the suspension is appropriate and misinformation given by the doctors had eroded public trust in the hospital system. “I’m very concerned that there was misleading information on the weekend for whatever reason which created an impression that the nurse had not received the treatment in isolation that she should have done,” he told ABC Radio. “This nurse was treated appropriately in an isolated environment in an isolated room in the emergency department.”