Australian hospital refuses to discharge asylum baby

The detention centre on the South Pacific island of Nauru houses more than 500 people and has been widely criticised for harsh conditions.

The 12-month-old, Darwin-born daughter of Nepalese asylum seekers was flown to the Brisbane children’s hospital for treatment to accidental burns she received while learning to walk in a detention centre on Nauru last week.

A hospital in Australia has refused to discharge a baby facing deportation due to concerns over poor living conditions in government offshore detention centers.

“All decisions relating to a patient’s treatment and discharge are made by qualified clinical staff, based on a thorough assessment of the individual, delivering the best outcome”.

Fairfaxreports members of the broader public are staging a protest outside the hospital, supporting hospital workers’ assertion Asha wouldn’t be discharged until a “suitable home environment is identified.” .

She was admitted to hospital in January after she was accidentally burnt by boiling water in her parent’s tent at the Nauru Detention Centre.

And protesters placed 267 numbered paper dolls on the grass outside the north Brisbane office of the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, – one for each asylum seeker of the M68 cohort facing transfer to Nauru.

Ms Narayanasamy said the Australian Border Force has “overruled decisions of medical experts in the past, so the family remains very scared they will be secretly snatched from the hospital and returned to detention this weekend”. There are also reports of systemic child abuse.

Demonstrators held a solidarity vigil outside the hospital, and they pledge to continue the protest through the weekend, objecting to the government’s stringent migration policy.

Dr. Richard Kidd, from Doctors for Refugees, praised the decision of doctors not to release the tiny patient.

Today, campaigners from ActionAid, Amnesty International, GetUp! and Greenpeace unfurled a #LetThemStay banner on Sydney’s iconic harbour calling for the asylum-seekers, who are set to be deported after being brought to Australia for medical treatment, to be allowed to stay.

But he has said the government must remain resolute over its policies regarding offshore processing and regional resettlement for “illegal maritime arrivals” in order to deter people-smuggling.

MP Sarah Hanson-Young has also given her take on the situation, commending the work of hospital staff despite the looming threat of punishment for their stance.

To fight the problem the Australian government has adopted a number of controversial measures, which include processing the refugees in the islands of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.