Dr Kerryn Phelps, AMA President, 'The World Today', ABC Radio 2BL, with Tanya Nolan, Tuesday 14 August 2001
COMPERE: The Australian Medical Association says it's becoming increasingly concerned about conditions being imposed on doctors and other health professionals inside Australia's immigration detention system. The concern comes as the Minister for Immigration, Philip Ruddock, talks of even tougher rules and regulations, amidst further revelations that detainees are being poorly treated and that almost all of those in detention are now showing symptoms of depression in one degree or other.
The ABC Four Corners program elaborated on a story first broken on The World Today three weeks ago of a six-year-old Iranian boy, Shayan Badrie, living in the Villawood Detention Centre with his family. He's been diagnosed with traumatic, acute stress disorder. Shayan has become mute and is refusing to eat or drink because of what he's witnessed during his 17 months in detention. He's seen riots and acts of self-harm. Yet, health practitioners in the nation's detention centres run by DIMA and ACM are bound by a double gag, prevented from airing their concerns about the situation facing detainees because of issues of patient confidentiality as well as a gag clause in their contracts with their own employers and the Department of Immigration. The President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Kerryn Phelps, has been talking to our reporter, Tanya Nolan.
PHELPS: The AMA has been advocating on behalf of people in detention centres and asylum seekers in the community because the issues have been raised with us by the doctors who are visiting the detention centres and looking after these people in the community. We're very concerned. I've been to see Philip Ruddock about it, to raise our concerns, and we do not feel particularly happy about the response to the issue of the six-year-old child who has been suffering such great distress from his detention.
NOLAN: What conditions are you specifically concerned about?
PHELPS: We're concerned about a number of issues. Privacy is one. And that is that security staff are generally on hand when somebody is having a consultation with the health professional, when they're consulting with the doctor or the nurse. Handcuffs are used on patients during transport to external medical and dental appointments and this would seem in many cases to be quite unnecessary. There's not a structured preventive health program like dedicated immunisation programs, cervical screening, general health screening for tuberculosis, for people who are in the detention centres, and there's a real problem with language, too, with translators being able to help people be understood when they're trying to express their health concerns.
NOLAN: We've seen nurses and other health workers speak out about the situation in detention centres when confronted with particularly alarming situations or when they don't feel that their concerns have been dealt with. Would you like to see them be able to talk more freely about conditions in the detention centres, given that they're really often our only link to what actually does go on inside them?
PHELPS: I think there certainly needs to be an inquiry into the conditions being observed by the health professionals and being experienced by people in detention centres. And I think that should be a matter of some urgency. And in particular when we're looking at families with children, we need to look at solutions that are simply not there at the moment.
NOLAN: Do you think that health professionals are being unfairly gagged by the confidentiality contracts that they agree to undertake when they take up employment with the Department of Immigration in the detention centres?
PHELPS: Well, this is why they've approached the AMA, to get some assistance in advocating on their behalf because they've felt unable to speak out. And frankly, if there wasn't something to hide, there would be no need for a gag clause.
NOLAN: Has the Immigration Minister given you any hope that things may change in this direction?
PHELPS: I felt that we got a good hearing from Mr Ruddock and we're waiting to hear back with a response.
NOLAN: Are counselling services within detention centres a priority?
PHELPS: There's no question that we need to see more effective counselling services available in the detention centres. We have a window of opportunity when these people arrive and indicate that they are refugees, that they are seeking asylum in Australia as a safe haven from their country of origin. And I think we have an opportunity to intervene at that point with effective strategies to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder becoming a long-term chronic problem for them, which if their applications for refugee status are successful, will become a problem for health professionals and for those people as they try to establish a life in Australia.
COMPERE: Dr Kerryn Phelps is the President of the Australian Medical Association. She was speaking to our reporter, Tanya Nolan. We approached the Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, to comment. His office tells us that he was unable to appear on The World Today because of travel and other commitments this lunchtime.
Ends