A pregnant Somali refugee has said she was threatened by the government: give birth on Nauru or go home.
Channel Ten’s The Project has exposed the mishandling of a pregnant Somali refugee, who was allegedly being “forced” by the government to give birth on Nauru, or be returned to Somalia.
The mother, Deka, — a victim of female genital mutilation — will require personalised medical care during her potentially fatal labour — a service which does not exist on Nauru.
The woman has also reportedly attempted suicide twice, and is in a particularly vulnerable position.
The government initially claimed the woman had been settled in the Nauruan community and would therefore be given the same local health care.
They later backtracked, alleging arrangements to transfer the woman to Australia were already in progress.
However, The Project contacted the Somali family in Nauru and discovered they had not been notified of any attempts to transfer them to Australia.
In an interview with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, The Project host Waleed Aly attempted to discern when these arrangements were made, and why the desperate family weren’t notified.
Unsurprisingly, the Minister was not able to answer the question, but did say that the case was determined to be “beyond the capacity” of the medical staff on Nauru.
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“In relation to obstetrics, the plan is if the obstetrician on the island — who is New Zealand-trained — can deliver the baby, that delivery happens,” the Minister said.
“If that is beyond the capacity of that doctor — and that was the case in relation to this matter –then arrangements are made for the lady and her husband, in this case, or children otherwise, to go to another place where the baby can be delivered safely.
“After that will return to Nauru, they will not be settling in Australia.”
Aly said he would “leave it to the audience to see how much has been clarified.”
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Top Comments
What a disgusting regime Australia has! No shortage of money when it comes to destroying needy people's lives. Will not allow the poor lady to give birth safely.
If memory serves, this family is not in detention, they have in fact been granted residency by the Republic of Nauru. The Australian taxpayer is not financially responsible for resettled asylum seekers. It is the Doctors not the patients who decide if a birth is high risk, and it is the Doctors not the patients who decide if they have the facilities to assist that birth safely, once they have decided the patient needs better facilities they will seek to arrange a transfer generally informing the patient after the details are sorted out, given this family are not Australian citizens there is the question of who pays for flights, accommodation and hospital care, that takes some time.
Agreed
I don't like the way you wrote "not the patients who decide" twice as if this lady is just whinging or something. The doctors have said she is at high risk and the doctor in Nauru is incapable of assisting her. Have some compassion and empathy. You are lucky you will never be in her shoes, imagine the fear she must be going through? I know I would be mortified.
There are more than 125 million women and girls alive today that have been cut, some of these women will be cut to allow birth and then closed again multiple times over, the issues with this ladies birth a far from unique, in fact millions of women just like this lady give birth in conditions FAR below the standards of care available on Nauru, yes there are risks but this is the culture she grew up with not some strange new scary affliction. For the record I'm 100% against FGM, I'm also against any government throwing money towards resettled refugees unless it's deemed a medical necessity by a Doctor not just the patient.
You'll probably like this even less.... I suspect this may have more to do with her child's claim to Australian citizenship than anything else.
http://www.who.int/mediacen...