Tony Abbott says the immigration minister will look at revelations that the healthcare provider for asylum seekers admitted fraud in detention centres was inevitable.
The prime minister said he was confident asylum seekers were receiving proper healthcare as it was revealed International Health and Medical Services (IHMS) had failed on many occasions to reach medical targets for caring for asylum seekers.
“Well, I am happy to have a look at it. This is the first I have heard of this particular observation. But I am confident that the people that are being looked after in these centres in Nauru and in Manus Island are receiving good levels of healthcare,” he said in Canberra on Tuesday.
“I am confident that we are doing what duty we have to these people but obviously I am happy to have that matter looked at by the minister for immigration [Peter Dutton].”
Guardian Australia reported IHMS admitted it was “inevitable” fraud would be committed in detention centres, that it put asylum seekers at risk by failing to meet medical targets and that it included incorrect data in reports.
IHMS, which has received contracts from the Australian government worth more than $1.6bn, has bent, and at times broken, official targets in its care of asylum seekers, internal briefings obtained by Guardian Australia show.
IHMS also could not guarantee its staff had working-with-children checks and conceded it would probably fail any audit on the matter.
Among the failures to meet healthcare targets set by the immigrations department were:
- Asylum seekers saw a GP within three days of making the request only 29% of the time.
- Vaccinations of children occurred in only 7% of cases where it was needed.
- When an asylum seeker was involved in a critical incident, a report was provided within four hours only 56% of the time.
- An accurate and complete summary of an asylum seeker’s clinical history was kept in only 25% of cases.
- A screening for mental health concerns, substance dependence problems and torture and trauma history occurred 71% of the time.
A spokeswoman from the immigration department said in response to the revelations that the department was committed to ensuring that it had the best available information and expertise to manage the health of those in detention.
“The department has and continues to work with its service provider, IHMS, to regularly review its reporting frameworks,” she said.