Australia seeks hospital back-up for volunteers in Ebola-hit countries
|
Version 0 of 1. The Abbott government is considering whether western-run field hospitals in west Africa would have the capacity to cater for any Australian health volunteers who contract Ebola, and what quarantine rules should apply to workers when they return home. Australia has previously resisted calls to send medical experts to the region on the basis that it has been unable to secure iron-clad guarantees from other countries to help transfer volunteers in the event they contracted the virus. The health minister, Peter Dutton, signalled on Monday that the government would “have further comments to make in relation to these matters” and was considering whether health workers would have access to “appropriate medical assistance on the ground”. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) president, Brian Owler, said the UK and US were building “state of the art” treatment centres in west Africa for international healthcare workers and he expected Australia would be able to strike an agreement. Dutton said Australia had the capacity to set up field hospitals in west Africa, and remained in talks about the British government’s facilities. “The Brits have in their commitment a hospital of, as I understand it, 12 beds to provide support to health workers,” the health minister told the ABC. “The question is whether or not that would be adequate to provide support to somebody as the different stages of Ebola took hold. It is quite a horrific virus as we know. There is a lot of bodily fluid excreted from the body in the advanced stages, at which time it is too late to evacuate that person. So these are judgments and we base it obviously on advice received from CDF [chief of the defence force] as well as the chief medical officer.” Dutton said he had met with the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, and senior officials on Sunday “to further work out contingencies” and ensure people were not put into harm’s way. Abbott told parliament on Monday he did not rule out Australia “doing more” in response to requests from the UK and the US for further assistance. The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that the government was considering sending volunteer medical teams to west Africa on the condition they were quarantined overseas for 21 days before returning. Citing a government source, the newspaper said the plan would depend on western partners building a field hospital in Africa for quarantine and treatment purposes. This followed a report in the West Australian on Friday that the government was close to striking an agreement with Britain regarding treatment of any Ebola cases. The health department’s website indicates that volunteers returning from postings with non-government organisations in west Africa are already subject to certain measures during their first three weeks back in Australia. “Aid workers who have volunteered in affected countries are required to monitor their health for 21 days after leaving the affected country, during which time they are not allowed to work in a clinical setting in Australia,” the website says. Owler said existing procedures of quarantining people at home had “worked effectively” and further isolation measures might “discourage people from going and doing this work”. “We’ve seen a number of Australian health care workers return home from west Africa and follow those protocols appropriately and that’s worked very well,” he told the ABC. “I think it would actually be much better and safer for them to be at home, here, provided when they travel they obviously show no sign, symptoms of the disease and then, in that case, they’d be quite safe.” Morrison told parliament the government had temporarily suspended its immigration program, including the humanitarian program, from Ebola-affected countries. “We are ensuring all prior humanitarian entrants have been subject to three separate health checks before their departure as well as being subject to on-arrival screening processes and post-arrival monitoring,” he said. Morrison said other permanent visa holders who had not yet arrived in Australia were being required to submit to a 21-day quarantine period prior to their departure to Australia. The government was “cancelling and refusing non-permanent or temporary visas from persons from [Ebola] affected countries who haven’t departed yet for Australia”. Labor sought to intensify pressure on the government, moving a parliamentary motion calling for Australia to join international efforts to contain the outbreak at its source. The opposition’s health spokeswoman, Catherine King, said the Australian government should not wait for the virus to arrive in the Asia Pacific region because that would be too late. King said she was confident the government could negotiate decent care and treatment arrangements for Australian health workers. The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, began question time on Monday by pointing to comments by Owler that Australia’s response to the Ebola crisis was a shambles. Abbott replied that he took the AMA “very seriously” because the organisation “invariably had the national interest at heart”. The prime minister said the handling of the potential Brisbane case on Sunday showed authorities were “well prepared to deal with any Ebola case here in Australia”. He said a “ready reaction team” could deploy quickly to deal with any outbreak in countries close to Australia, and the government had donated $18m in financial support to help deal with the situation in west Africa. “Nevertheless, we are continuing to talk to our friends and partners about what more might be done to address the situation in west Africa,” he said. |