Concerns mount over Nauru hospital conditions; Nauru doctor recommends treatment offshore

Hospital1Refugee advocates continue to urge the Immigration Minister to make immediate arrangements to bring Erfan, the 11 year-old with the broken arm, to Australia for urgent surgery.

Even the resident doctor at the Nauru hospital now recommends offshore treatment, after another cast was placed on Erfan’s arm yesterday (1 June 2015): “I would strongly recommend early referral offshore for MRI, assessment by a Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon and ORIF.” (ORIF is ‘Open reduction and internal fixation’.) “We are extremely concerned at the conditions in the Nauru hospital. We don’t believe that Erfan can be safely operated on, on Nauru,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

A video below taken at the time of Erfan’s treatment at the hospital yesterday clearly shows the insect infestation in the treatment room (view at full screen size to see insects). Other photos of Erfan and the Nauru hospital are also shown.

Hospital2Erfan’s mother has also expressed her concerns, “I am very worried about my son to be operated on in Nauru. The power is gone four or five times a day, almost every day, and the hospital does not have a generator. How can they do it?”

Doctors for Refugees has also expressed their concerns, saying, “We ask that Minister Peter Dutton expedite his transfer to the Australian mainland for urgent surgery to prevent permanent disability.”

Similarly, the Refuge Action Coalition is calling for the Minister to bring Erfan and other refugees who need urgent treatment to the mainland where they can get the medical attention they need.

Hospital5For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713

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