Two refugees facing critical illnesses have been belatedly rushed to medical attention, after a campaign of public and private pressure on the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments, and some unconventional back-channel diplomacy.
Guardian Australia reported on Thursday on the cases of Mohammed Hamza Hussein – who lost one eye in an assault four years ago and is going blind in his other eye – and Abdikaldeawe Abdisalam, who severely injured his leg in an accident and had been denied an x-ray or any treatment for nearly a week.
By Thursday afternoon, Hussein had been flown to Port Moresby’s Pacific international hospital for an assessment of his failing “good” eye. Doctors say his condition – and ongoing treatment of his eye – will not be able to be treated in Port Moresby, and he will need to be flown to Australia.
Abdisalam is set to be medevaced to Port Moresby sometime on Friday or Saturday after an x-ray – finally performed six days after his accident – revealed a complete patella rupture. His kneecap has been torn loose from his lower leg, causing massive swelling and risking permanent deformity in his leg. He will require urgent surgery.
The two men’s cases were the subject of lobbying from federal parliamentarians and doctors’ groups, as well as an intervention from the former Australian Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg.
Doctors for Refugees co-convenor Dr David Berger, who had written repeatedly to the Department of Home Affairs chief medical officer, Dr Parbodh Gogna, about both cases, said while it was an important and welcome result for the two men, the systemic healthcare failures within Australia’s offshore processing regime remain.
“Mohammed Hamza Hussein going blind: we have been writing and lobbying for ... months, with no response. And in Abdisalam’s case, taking six days to get an x-ray for an extremely serious injury is absurd. It demonstrates again this is a completely unviable system that is endangering people’s lives.”
This week, the Queensland state coroner, Terry Ryan, found Australia was responsible for the “preventable” death of Hamid Kehazaei, who contracted a simple infection inside the Manus Island detention centre in 2014. A series of “multiple errors” and “systemic failures” caused his death, the coroner found .
Berger said healthcare within the Manus system had got worse, not better, since Kehazaei’s death in 2014, and those still held within the regime were at risk of serious medical neglect.
“When you have a system where immigration officials are routinely overriding doctors’ clinical decisions, that system is inherently flawed and inherently dangerous,” he said. “We will see further catastrophes and more deaths. That is inevitable.”
In response to Guardian Australia’s reporting, Quaedvlieg contacted Berger and put him in contact with the chief migration officer of PNG’s Immigration Citizenship Service Authority, Solomon Kantha.
Kantha promised Berger via email that he would “look into” the matter, and Hussein was on a plane within five hours, while Abdisalam had been assessed at the Lorengau hospital on Manus.
Quaedvlieg declined to comment in detail: “I provided some guidance to assist in a critical medical intervention and don’t wish to comment further.”
Guardian Australia has also sought comment from Kantha.
Guardian Australia understands several federal members of parliament as well as doctors’ groups such as the Australian Medical Association have also lobbied on behalf of the two men.
Hussein, a former policeman and father of four daughters who was forced to flee Iraq after attacks from Isis, lost all sight in his right eye in February 2014, when the Manus Island detention centre was invaded by guards and rioters from outside. He was beaten unconscious with a post, including being struck across the face, irreparably blinding his eye.
Without regular check-ups, the sight in his left eye has now deteriorated with his vision reduced to only just being able to count fingers held up to that eye.
Abdisalam badly injured his leg in an accident playing football last Friday. Despite massive swelling and immense pain, he was given only Panadol and a bandage. Despite several visits to the Lorengau hospital, he was told the only x-ray machine on the island was broken.
Initial fears that he had a femoral fracture were allayed when he was x-rayed on Thursday. He has a total rupture of his patella tendons.
“It is a very serious injury,” Berger a remote and emergency medicine specialist, told Guardian Australia. “It leaves you unable to straighten your leg, untreated and without an operation it would leave you with permanent deformity.”
Guardian Australia has made repeated requests for an interview with Gogna. These have all been declined.