Doctors protesting at the incarceration of asylum-seeker children have declined to say whether they would refuse to discharge patients if it meant they would be sent back to detention centres.
On Saturday doctors from the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne wrote an editorial in the Herald-Sun about the harm detention causes to children, and called for “moral leadership on this issue to find a solution, quickly, to use alternatives to detention and to stop the harm”.
Hundreds of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff gathered outside the hospital in a protest supported by the hospital.
Some media reported at the weekend that doctors would in future refuse to discharge patients if it meant they would be returned to detention but on Monday a hospital spokeswoman could not confirm that was the case.
She said the doctors would not give further interviews at this stage to clarify what, if any, changes they would make to their discharge process for children from detention centres. “We’re not making any further comment at this stage,” she said.
The Victorian government has reiterated its support for the “brave decision” of the hospital staff. The state health minister, Jill Hennessy, said it was unusual for doctors to get involved in politics. “Our doctors are making some very, very brave decisions by speaking publicly,” she told ABC radio on Monday.
“They’re not people that like to ordinarily engage in the wherewithal of political debate. They are simply standing up for their patients and, as their minister, I’m saying I support them. End of story.”
Hennessy said no children from detention centres were now being treated at the hospital.
Prof David Isaacs, a paediatrician who runs a clinic for refugees in western Sydney and who has treated children in detention, praised the hospital for supporting its staff. He called for other hospitals to do the same but said many were reluctant to do so for fear of jeopardising their relationship with the federal government.
The Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners have all called for more humane treatment of asylum seekers, but it was helpful for healthcare workers to know their employers supported their stance, Isaacs said.
“We have previously published results from a survey that found 85% of paediatricians thought having children in detention was child abuse,” he said.
“The vast majority of paediatricians think Australia is abusing children by putting them into detention. So almost all children’s hospitals should agree the same, and stand behind a banner that says detention harms children.”
The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, which includes the Children’s hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children’s hospital, said its staff had limited exposure to children from Nauru but they worked closely with the government to ensure their clinical needs were met.
“The clinicians at SCHN support the health and wellbeing of children in detention and strongly urge this to be resolved as soon as possible,” a statement said.
Princess Margaret hospital for children in Western Australia was also contacted for comment.
Guardian Australia also put questions to the office of the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, about what options the department would have should a hospital refuse to discharge a patient who had come from a detention centre.
On Monday the federal Labor opposition immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, introduced a private member’s bill which would require staff in detention facilities to report child abuse. This year laws were introduced making it almost impossible for health professionals to make public cases of child abuse within detention centres without facing jail.
