@JacquiLambie 18 months ago I received a call from a father on Nauru that his 2 year old daughter was non responsive. She had encephalitis. IHMS could not find a vein to intravenously hydrate her. She was intubated in the neck at the hospital. And IHMS obtained a
Specialist report from Australia recommending that this little girl be immediately and urgently transferred to a tertiary paediatric facility in Australia.
We urged the Minister and the Chief Medical Officer to ensure this happened but we weren’t listened to and the doctors weren’t listened to. Instead, four days later while this little girl was hovering between life and death,
ABF organised to fly her and her mother to Port Moresby where there was one paediatrician who didn’t work weekends. The father rang me and said that his wife and daughter were on a plane and no one would tell him where they had taken them.
They split the family deliberately because it’s a strategy that puts pressure on patients to return to Manus or Nauru. But I’m this case, they had left the one proficient English speaker behind, so not only was there no paediatrician on duty, there was also no way for
The mother to communicate with hospital staff. If it wasn’t for one of the Manus guys and an advocate helping with translations, the baby girl would have had no treatment at all. The fact that this little girl survived was sheer dumb luck, not good risk management. This
Government couldn’t have cared less whether a baby lived or died. She was t a national security threat. She was just a little baby girl who was very very sick. If the Medevac bill had existed back then, the whole family would have been brought to Australia on the doctors
Say so. Treatment would not have been delayed. These smug politicians couldn’t care less whether people live or die. It’s why the Medevac bill was introduced in the first place. Don’t do a deal with them. They have no moral fibre or integrity. #SaveMedevac
@JacquiLambie you would know this already though, wouldn’t you? Because it was part of my confidential submission to the senate. Complete with the dated original letter from the specialist that recommended immediate transfer. And you read all of those, didn’t you? #SaveMedevac
