Coronavirus: ‘Lives at risk’ from school closures

Scott Morrison has warned more than a third of the health sector workforce would be wiped out if schools closed.

USQ nursing students Ann Mary Saju, left, Jo Menachery and Minna Jelson on Wednesday. Picture: David Martinelli

Scott Morrison has warned that more than a third of the health sector­ workforce would be lost if schools closed, as he relaxes rules to let 20,000 international student nurses work longer.

The nation’s chief medical officers and the Australian Medical Association have been concerned about the effect that closing schools would have on an already stretched hospital system.

The Prime Minister said on Wednesday that lives would be at risk if 30 per cent of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals were made to stay at home with their children.

“Whatever we do, we’ve got to do for at least six months. Six months. So that means the disruption that would occur from the closure of schools around this country, make no mistake, would be severe,” he said in Canberra.

“What do I mean by severe? Tens of thousands of jobs could be lost, if not more.

“The impact on the availability of health workers? A 30 per cent impact on the availability of health workers is our ­advice.

“That will put people’s lives at risk.”

Mr Morrison will boost the ­nation’s healthcare capacity by relaxi­ng working restrictions on foreign student nurses to allow them to work more than 40 hours as COVID-19 cases increase.

“We’re not importing the nurses into Australia. That would obviously be against the travel advice and bans that already have been in place for some time,” he said.

“But those 20,000 student nurses that we have in Australia, they’re going to be available to help and support the health effort right across the country, as directed by our health officials and they can be engaged for that purpose.”

AMA national president Tony Bartone said the government would need to ensure there were enough resources if the pandemic reached the point where schools were forced to shut down.

“We’re certainly aware of the figures and some of the modelling the Prime Minister mentioned. If schools closed, that would become a really significant issue,” he said.

“We would need a conversation with government, all governments, that they are able to support the whole system and resource it properly if that happens.”

Dr Bartone also said governments would need to navigate regulations around retired doctors, as they returned to the health system to help fight the disease outbreak.

“We need to look at novel and innovative pathways at dealing with this pandemic,” he said.

International nursing students at the University of Southern Queensland have declared they are ready to step up to help their temporary home confront the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jo Menachery, 21, a third-year USQ nursing student from Kochi in India, said he was eager to help.

“It’s our moral obligation as nurses to be there for the community and society,” he said.

“This is a global pandemic and it’s time to step up.”

A spokesman for the body responsible­ for registering nurses, the Nursing and Midwifery Board, said it was “working with health departments to consider how we can adapt our regulatory requirements and guidance to meet ­emergency health service needs while ensuring public safety”.