ACRRM joins calls for removal of children from detention on Nauru

The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) has joined other medical Colleges and stakeholders in calling on the Australian Government to urgently transfer refugee and asylum seeker children and their families from Nauru to Australia for appropriate medical assessment and treatment.

President-elect Dr Ewen McPhee urged the Government to respond to the mounting concerns about the mental and physical health, safety and wellbeing of the refugee children who have been detained on Nauru.

“These children are a victim of dreadful circumstances over which they have no control.  The mental and physical impacts of their experiences will haunt them for on the rest of their lives”, he said.

“As rural and remote doctors, ACRRM members are well aware of the far reaching impacts of these situations on both the individual and the wider community.

“We are a nation which prides itself on providing a high standard of health care.  We should be extending this to these children and their families.”