Serious health concerns about 3 hunger strikers

NAURU Government should immediately bow out of MOU

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Serious health concerns about three hunger strikers

IOM reportedly does not employ Medical Practitioner, contrary to Agreement

"The NAURU Government should immediately bow out of MOU, before it gets the blame from the Howard government when people die in the current hunger strike."

"From the comments from Minister Amanda Vanstone, and today's comments of the Attorney-General and former Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock, it becomes abundantly clear that the Australian government has only one intent with the way it arranged the detention centre on Nauru and its MOU with the Republic of Nauru: to attempt to wash its hands off what happens to detainees on the island."

• Serious health concerns about three hunger strikers

Refugee advocates today have serious concerns about especially three of the hunger strikers: the person named yesterday in the Herald (Mark Phillips) Sun as Jarnil Khan Hashimi is believed to be in a coma in State House after having been part of the hunger strike for three weeks - the detention centre on another part of the Island, where detainees are not allowed to visit him.

Jarnil was in the news last year after refugee advocates expressed grave concern about what they saw as inferior standard of medical care for him - he has an amputated leg, and it took a great deal of lobbying to get sufficient attention for his problems with what was a badly fitting artificial leg.

A second detainee has reportedly seriously swollen legs, blisters, and infections at those blisters. Hunger strikers and detainees have also reported about a third person, of which they say that 'he's gone mad'.

• IOM reportedly does not employ Medical Practitioner, contrary to Agreement

We are concerned that these detainees are in serious danger. We also suspect that the International Organisation for Migration received funds from the Australian government to employ a medical practitioner - and we suspect that this was stipulated in the MOU, but IOM does not employ a medical practitioner to our knowledge. IOM may also be in breach of their agreement with the Australian government in this regard.

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