Doctors are actively discussing a boycott of immigration detention centres, and the ethics of taking that position. Photo: Fairfax
Responsibility for the health care of asylum seekers in detention should be stripped from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to steer off the prospect of a doctor boycott, according to a former chief psychiatrist of detention centres.
Peter Young, who oversaw the mental health services in immigration detention, has called for more independent scrutiny of the centres and for the health of detainees to be overseen by a government body separate to the one governing their captivity.
“It is analogous to health services in prisons, where the need to separate the governance of health from corrective services is well recognised,” Dr Young wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Doctors are actively discussing a boycott of immigration detention centres, and the ethics of taking that position.
The debate has escalated since the federal government introduced the Australian Border Force Act, which contains penalties of up to two years in jail for “entrusted persons” who disclose protected information about immigration detention centres.
Dr Young told Fairfax Media that practitioners working in immigration detention centres faced a conflict of interest between their employer and their patients.
“One of the duties of a medical practitioner is to advocate for what’s in the best interests of people’s health, which in this case means advocating against them being kept in these conditions, which we’re not allowed to do,” Dr Young said.
“The government has removed all of the existing mechanisms of any external scrutiny or oversight.”
Dr Young resigned from International Health and Medical Services in 2014 after three years in the position, during which the independent health advisory group that oversaw immigration detention centres saw its power eroded until it was finally axed.
“That was really the point at which I said the compromises to remain in this position, even though I felt I was doing good, were too great, and overall I felt I was contributing to the system that was doing harm.”
The Australian Medical Association’s code of ethics advises doctors to refrain from entering into contracts which could conflict with their “professional integrity, clinical independence or primary obligation to the patient”.
Queensland GP John-Paul Sanggaran, who worked in the detention centre on Christmas Island for six months in 2013 and has advocated for a boycott in the Medical Journal of Australia, said one of the strategies would be to pressure recruitment companies not to fill the positions.
“That could be saying you’re sending people to places that are likely to have negative consequences for them and put them in a difficult ethical position and you probably shouldn’t be sending them there,” Dr Sanggaran said.
But AMA president Brian Owler said he did not support a boycott.
“These are people that need our help and that’s the first priority,” Dr Owler said. “I think it would punish these people who do need significant health care.”
When asked for comment, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said: “In regard to concerns about the Australian Border Force Act, the Department has made it clear these provisions do not override or prevent the application of mandatory reporting obligations, in accordance with the ABF Act or as otherwise authorised or required by law.”