Growing List of Hero Doctors

Friends, as I went through the evidence in Australian Human Rights Commission's 2014 Inquiry on Children in Detention, I came across crucial conceptual evidence from Dr Grant Ferguson. In 31/7/2014, at its third round of hearings, the Human Rights Commission compelled all witnesses so they can give evidence and be protected by laws. Dr Grant Ferguson and Dr John-Paul Sanggaran are amongst those appearing as witnesses [#2]. I am heartened by this particular note given by Dr Ferguson, which I consider to be conceptually important:

"... there's a large group of people who arrive with chronic health problems that they've managed themselves their entire lives, and then when they come into the detention environment, they relinquish control of their health to IHMS and SERCO and to the government, and then they deteriorate when those health conditions aren't managed properly. ..."

I certainly valued Dr Ferguson's words because they came directly from an Australian medical practitioner. Of course, the literature on human rights and medical ethics provides the same contextual meaning. But, in a sense, much more convincing when I hear "something straight from the horse's mouth". Dr Ferguson's words reflect a medical practitioner's understanding of the "inalienable and natural health rights" of the human person. A human person, whether living in primitive third-world settings or an affluent developed society, "must" and "must be able to" exercise their alienable rights to manage their health. Because the inalienable (natural) right to manage and control one's own health has been so much part of ourselves, we often need to be given proper thought or analysis. Simply put, "If I'm feeling unwell, I must be able to seek a remedy, including seeing the medical doctor." In other words, "I must be in control of managing my own health."

Of course, a detainee will not be free to seek any health remedy, including seeing a doctor. The detention authorities, therefore, are required to provide adequate healthcare to detainees. The "adequate healthcare" means the Australian healthcare standards for offshore detainee asylum-seekers.

Offshore Detention Whistle-blowers

MANAGING HEALTH IN PRIMITIVE SETTINGS

I grew up in a rural village in Burma, where the nearest dispensary was 5 km away. A hospital is much further at 16 km. As I remember, i.e. 40-50 years back, all medical facilities were primitive, and transport was non-existence. Therefore, people in our village would never visit the dispensary nor attend the hospital for minor ailments. Attending hospitals were for serious health incidents such as snake bites, broken bones, life-threatening illnesses and women unable to give birth. Otherwise, we sought to manage the headaches, toothache, fever, seasonal flu, or even high blood pressure by ourselves. Just as an example, I have a condition of hypertension that is being managed by taking regular medications. If I were in Burma, I would have to manage this same condition by taking herbal remedies, choosing specific diets and consulting with local quack doctors. Therefore, in a primitive setting in rural Burma or an affluent place like Sydney, I must have (1) the freedom to move around and (2) the social network to find resources to manage my hypertension. In view of human rights, I am exercising my inalienable rights to manage my health.

Childbirth is another area of health where freedom and social networking play essential roles. In villages in rural Burma, there were no medically trained midwives. Women with knowledge and experience in childbirth have taken on the midwifery role. My mother, for example, over the years, had given birth to seven siblings of us at home, all healthy!, and never went to the hospital. To give birth, a woman, therefore, needs familiar resources and a social network. In pregnancy and childbirth, a woman must be able to exercise her inalienable rights to give birth to a child.

IN DISPLACEMENT AND DETENTION

In a displacement situation, a person's capacity to manage their health has already reduced. During displacement, one cannot find familiar resources and cannot rely on social networks. That displaced person, however, still has the freedom to move around and seek out alternative resources.

A person in detention shall neither have the freedom of movement nor the ability to find resources to manage health. Therefore the detaining authorities must adequately provide resources to maintain that person's health. We can understand Dr Ferguson's words in these contexts.

SLAVERY AND SUPPRESSION OF INALIENABLE RIGHTS TO HEALTH

The concept of inalienable rights to health is seemingly so simple. But it is powerful enough to identify one of the most complex cases of slavery, "Detention Slavery". In Section VII of [#1] "Inalienable Right to Health and Offshore Medevac Context", I discussed at length the connection between the suppression of individual health rights and slavery.

In "STATE OF TORTURE LAW [#3]", I connected torture and a breach by the doctor of its legal duty. A doctor opting to give less efficacious treatment to a detainee patient has proven to violate torture law. By the same token, those who have arranged compromised-doctors to work in detention environments, as a consequence having effects of suppressing the individual health rights of detainees, have violated torture and slavery laws.

In Australia's offshore detention, the detained asylum-seeker were nominally given access to medical doctors. The compromised-doctors, in turn, are providing less efficacious treatment plans to asylum-seeker detainees. As such, the detained asylum-seekers rights to enjoy proper medical care, which became their legal rights under detention, have been suppressed.

Friends, as I went through various materials in 2014-2015, I can see many medical professionals have spoken out their views and taken a stand against the inhuman practice in offshore detention. Today, we must acknowledge and value their efforts. -- Cheers, NetIPR

[#1] http://www.aus4iccwitness.org/node/92#inalienable-right-to-health-and-of...
[#2] https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/Dr%20Ferguson%20Dr%20Sang...
[#3] http://www.aus4iccwitness.org/node/96