Coronavirus: Christmas Island an ‘inhumane’ site to house evacuees, says AMA

Australia’s peak medical body has attacked as inappropriate the plan to house evacuees from Wuhan on Christmas Island, saying alternatives are available.

AMA President, Tony Bartone. Picture: Kym Smith

Australia’s peak medical body has attacked as inappropriate the plan to house evacuees from Wuhan on Christmas Island, saying alternatives are available and a “more humane” approach is required.

Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone said there were alternative locations on mainland Australia where evacuees could be housed.

“The government has at its disposal a number of facilities, everything from, you know, defence sites or other sites, quarantine facilities, which it could ramp up to meet this demand,” Dr Bartone said.

“We have had members advise us of Woodside Barracks (in South Australia), which can be quite easily converted for this purpose. If we have a question mark over Christmas Island’s suitability for asylum-seekers or refugees, we most surely need to reflect on that when looking to quarantine this group of Australians. These people are scared and vulnerable.”

Dr Bartone raised concerns that those quarantined on Christmas Island would be thousands of kilometres away from ordinary medical facilities: “There are many more humane options on mainland Australia that would allow proximity to appropriate medical specialists.

“(The evacuees) are not suffering from the coronavirus at the moment. Yes, there might be an incubation period, but we have already established protocols and procedures to deal with that. We can deal with that without a 600-bed hospital.”

The AMA also raised concerns about the handling of the crisis, saying people had been given “confusing and conflicting” advice.

“As we’ve seen in recent days, when community fears and expectations run ahead of what accepted medical evidence and international expert evidence is, we get this situation where we’ve got confusing and conflicting information being issued, be it by the Education Department of one state or health authorities of another state,” Dr Bartone said.

“We need to have some sort of level of consistency and clarity to ensure the community … has confidence in both its officials and its regulatory officers to keep them safe.”

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt defended the Christmas Island plan, describing it as a “humanitarian mission”.

“I’m not aware that any state has offered to clear out a hospital for 600 people,” he said.

“All states and territories unanimously supported the quarantine procedures.”

Repatriated Australians will be accommodated in the Christmas Island processing centre used for asylum-seekers and remain in quarantine for up to two weeks. The National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre has been tasked with deploying medical teams to process the evacuees.

The centre’s executive director, Leonard Notaras, said people found to be infected could be transferred to the mainland.

Twenty-four staff from the Australian Medical Assistance Teams (AUSMAT) will be sent to the island. They will bring a demountable hospital.