Airdate: Four Corners

On Four Corners Geoff Thompson hears from doctors who refuse to be silenced over Australia’s offshore detention centres.

They speak out despite the risks involved in disclosing information.

The Australian Government contract to provide healthcare to detainees has already cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars, but doctors say the medical care provided offshore in Manus Island is dangerously inadequate.

“I can think of very few times in recent history where doctors have been so united about a particular issue.” – Former Government Adviser

On Four Corners some of Australia’s most senior doctors and medical staff with experience in the offshore detention system are speaking out. They say the Border Force Act could see them risk two years in jail for disclosing information about Australia’s asylum seeker detention system.

“There is a lot of anxiety about that piece of legislation and how it applies to doctors.” – Senior Doctor

Despite this, the doctors have chosen to talk.

“The doctors have been appalled at attempts to silence them.” – Doctor

Their story centres on the case of a Manus Island detainee, Hamid Khazaei, who died following a bacterial infection in 2014.

“I feel like to prevent further harm there are some details that I can offer to the story of what happened.” – Doctor

What started as a skin infection poisoned his body, leaving him brain dead.

“I think that if he had this exact infection and the same conditions in all other ways and he was in Australia at the time, he’s unlikely to have died.” – Former Government Adviser

The details of his rapid decline and the treatment he received are shocking.

Doctors involved in his care are speaking publicly for the first time, giving a rare inside account of the medical treatment available in our offshore detention centres

“I feel like I’ve actually weighed the ethics of the case quite heavily for the last eighteen months and now I believe that there actually is a clear benefit for people to understand how the system works and the reason why what happened, happened.” – Doctor

Monday, April 25 at 8.30pm on ABC.