More asylum seekers in Australian hospitals

Australian doctors are increasingly treating asylum-seekers being held in immigration detention in the country's north, many suffering mental illness.

Darwin's major hospital is struggling to treat the large number of asylum seekers who have been traumatized by immigration detention, many asylum seekers have attempted suicide and some have to be admitted to the psychiatric ward.

The Northern Territory branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) said three to five detainees from Australian immigration Centre’s were being brought to hospitals every day, many with mental or recurring issues. "They are all complicated cases, because virtually all of them will have some mental health issue," said Dr Paul Bauert, president of the AMA.

Dr Paul Bauert Said "They are not straightforward (cases), there is a fair degree of mental illness and chronic anxiety with their representations. They often need interpreters which are hard to find. So the whole process... becomes compounded."

Bauert said while some cases clearly involved psychiatric illness, other asylum-seekers came with chest or abdominal pain which needed to be examined despite the often firm suspicion it related to mental health.

Dr Bauert says immigration health services are not helping. "One of the ways that's used in an effort to decrease the amount of presentations to the health staff at the detention Centre’s is the use of anti-depressants," he said.

"One gets the feeling that both Minister [Chris] Bowen and the Health Minister, Plibersek, really don't understand the health conditions of the Northern Territory population and certainly has no understanding of the amount of psychological stress that they are putting on these unfortunate people in detention." He says long-term drug use is putting the detainees at further risk.

Rights groups have long criticized Australia's policy of mandatory detention for asylum-seekers arriving by boat, under which many are kept at remote and isolated detention Centre’s which have been beset by unrest.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the government was concerned about mental health in detention but noted that asylum-seekers had appropriate access to health facilities. "People in detention will be taken to Royal Darwin Hospital when they are medically assessed as requiring emergency or specialist health services for various health complaints," he added.

Call to close detention centre in Australia

The Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network say there have been four attempted suicides at Australia's Northern Immigration Detention Centre in three weeks. The asylum seeker support group is calling on the Federal Government to immediately close the detention centre.

The network's spokeswoman, Fernanda Dahlstrom, says two Iranian men attempted suicide at the Darwin centre on Sunday morning.

Both men attempted to hang themselves in the same room at the same time before Serco staff removed them. After the men were taken to hospital, other asylum seekers in the centre commenced protests by chanting for their release from detention.

Fernanda Dahlstrom says both Iranian men were long-term detainees and she says they should have their asylum claims processed while living in the community.

"Waiting with uncertainty about their future, not able to have anything to occupy themselves to make themselves useful, just basically sitting around with nothing to do, separated from their families, and not knowing whether they have a future in this country," she said.

Ms Dahlstrom says the centre should be closed down.

In the past three weeks in Northern Immigration Detention Centre one man attempted to kill himself by swallowing a light bulb, one man attempted to hang himself with a shower curtain and there have been a number of hunger strikes. The centre saw dozens of suicide attempts throughout 2011.

Dahlstrom said: “Mandatory detention does not work. It does not stop desperate people coming to Australia seeking safety, it is expensive and inhumane. Asylum seekers should be taken out of these factories for mental illness and placed in the community."

The Immigration Department says the two detainees "threatened" self harm. It says the men were treated at Royal Darwin Hospital and have been returned to the centre. A spokesman says extra support staff have been assigned to take care of the detainees' mental health.

Asylum-seekers in Australian Immigration Detention suffer Assault, Depression and Abuse

Recent reports have highlighted the worsening conditions for asylum seekers in detention around Australia.

Australia has a system of mandatory detention for any people arriving in the country without a valid visa.  These people are detained in remote facilities while their applications for asylum are decided.

The Australian Department of Immigration reports that there are 3,289 people in detention centres as of July 2011.  More than a third of people in detention centres have been waiting for more than a year to find out whether they can stay in Australia or not.

Between 2008 and June 2011, there were 1,273 reports of assault, damage to property or aggressive and abusive behaviour in detention centres.  596 cases involved allegations of assault while police were notified of incidents 242 times.

In a report to the Australian Parliament, The Australian Medical Association said hospitals were reporting large numbers of adults with mental health problems hurting themselves on purpose and requiring medical treatment.  The Association said it was worried about the mental health of detainees.
Meanwhile, Australia's Human Rights Commissioner has reported on the mental health damage of indefinite detention in Curtin Detention Centre.

The Commissioner expressed concern about the high rates of self-harm caused by poor conditions and a lack of services.

"Indefinite detention, particularly in a remote place, is very damaging to [asylum seekers’] mental health. They spoke to us about sleeplessness, about feelings of wanting to [commit] suicide, we know that there've been a worrying number of self-harm incidents there, including a man apparently who threw himself through a glass window."

Alexander Dianati, 37, an Iranian asylum-seeker has been in detention for three months after fleeing Iran to avoid religious persecution. He says fellow detainees are cutting, burning or trying to kill themselves on a weekly basis because they do not know what is happening with their asylum claims.
"Almost every week we have one situation like this, I'm sure Australian people don't know these things.”

He says tension in the facility is extremely high. The "mental health of the detainees is really bad, they are so depressed," he said.

He warned of mass protests if the situation is not resolved.  "The most biggest protest will happen in the history of Curtin soon, if Immigration and Serco doesn't do anything, I can guarantee this."

Mr Dianati also says that he was threatened with violence by detention centre staff after he spoke to the media about the problems.  Mr Dianati said he was called to a private meeting with a senior staff member from the detention centre.  He said the staff member got angry and threatened him after he refused to stop speaking to the media.

There are also reports that detainees and staff members at Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney engage in clashes at least once a week.  The Australian Government says that police are called to the centre at least every two weeks.

Villawood holds about 349 asylum seekers.  Between 2008 and June this year there were 45 incidents involving injuries to detainees and police were called 87 times. The figures show there were also 22 staff injuries.

Meanwhile asylum seekers in the Darwin detention centre are warning they will increase their protests unless their demands are met within a few days.

"They have given an ultimatum to the immigration department to fix things in a few days, or the protest will escalate. The asylum seekers have access to tools and construction items," the Refugee Action Coalition said.

The detainees want to know when they will find out whether or not they are allowed to stay in Australia.

It is also reported that immigration detention centre guards around Australia are worried that detainees could take them hostage or stage mass suicide attempts as more asylum seekers become increasingly desperate about their plight.

United Voice, the union for staff employed at detention centres, said rumors were circulating that detainees were plotting to take guards hostage to protest the time it was taking to make decisions about their asylum claims.

"Another rumor issuing out of (the Darwin camp) was that detainees were threatening to stage a mass hanging at a time when it was well known that the centre would be understaffed and unable to cope with multiple incidents," the Union said.