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Doctors campaign for the removal of children and their families from Nauru
The #doctorsforasylumseekers campaign has seen doctors and peak medical bodies, including the RACGP, join together to call for the Federal Government to do what they believe is right.
Doctors from all over Australia have pledged their support to the #doctorsforasylumseekers campaign.
‘The trauma experienced on Nauru is additional to the traumatic refugee experiences the children have already been through,’ Dr Kate Walker, GP and Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Refugee Health network, said.
Dr Walker believes that, after five years of detention on Nauru, the health of refugee and asylum seeker children and their families has reached a point of crisis.
‘These children’s medical and psychiatric conditions are now too severe to be managed on Nauru,’ she said.
‘As doctors, we believe there is a duty of care towards these children held on Nauru under Australian jurisdiction.’
Dr Walker reflects the concerns of many healthcare professionals throughout Australia who, together with the country’s peak medical bodies – including the RACGP, the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) and the Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) – have joined the #doctorsforasylumseekers campaign on Twitter.
Doctors involved in the campaign are tweeting their support for the almost 100 children and their families detained on Nauru, with the goal of putting an end to the uncertainty, deprivation and lack of adequate medical treatment they face on the island.
For many doctors – and those studying to become doctors – the conflict between the conditions of offshore processing and detention and the values of the medical profession lies at the heart of the campaign.
‘As medical professionals, our first job is to care for people, especially children. This must be our guiding principle,’ Alex Farrell, President of AMSA, said.
‘It is time for Australia to remove refugee and asylum seeker children from Nauru.’
Dr Walker wants the removal of children from Nauru to be implemented as quickly as possible.
‘Immediate action is required. Any delay will cause further deterioration of their physical and mental health,’ she said.
‘These unwell asylum seeker children require a therapeutic environment, preferably in Australia, where they can receive the specialist care they need.’
Dr Sara Townend, who wrote an open petition letter to Peter Dutton earlier this year to protest the plight of a dying refugee being held on Nauru, has started another petition to request that Prime Minister Scott Morrison transfer the children and their families from Nauru.
The letter, which has already attracted more than 1200 signatures from doctors and medical students, will be delivered to the Prime Minister on October 15.
Visit the RACGP, AMSA, RACP, and ACEM Twitter pages for more information on how to get involved with the campaign.
#doctorsforasylumseekers asylum seekers Nauru children
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