A refugee advocate says the Australian government is refusing to medivac a severely ill Kurdish-Iranian man currently in Port Moresby.
However, Australia’s Home Affairs Department says it is Papua New Guinea’s responsibility to care for the 60 deportees from Australia still in the country from the offshore detention programme.
Aust govt refusing to medivac ill refugee – advocate
Pacific Waves
Hatam Yekta, 36, was first sent to Manus Island in 2013 after seeking asylum from Iran. Since then, his family and advocates say his health has rapidly deteriorated.
The Refugee Action Coalition said he is one of 12 refugees still in Papua New Guinea after more than a decade, suffering serious mental health problems as a result of mistreatment on Manus Island.
The organisation’s spokesperson Ian Rintoul said Yekta may only have months to live.
“It’s very obvious now, looking at his condition, that his situation has deteriorated dramatically,” he said.
“We haven’t got anything clearly from the hospital to indicate why his condition is so bad, but it is very clear that the PNG government is not able to provide the medication, health and psychological support that Hatam or the other refugees need.”
Yekta is currently in Port Moresby. His family has sought his medical evacuation to Australia under its medivac legislation since 2019. The law allows doctors to compel the medical transfer of critically ill asylum seekers from offshore detention centres to Australia.
Rintoul said the plans and permits were drawn up until the Liberal government, led at the time by Scott Morrison, repealed the legislation in December of that year.
The Labor government reinstated the medivac system in 2025. But since then, Australia and PNG had already ended their regional processing association in 2021, and the Manus Island facility closed.
As such, the government has essentially ignored Yekta’s requests, as well as several others in PNG.
“It’s a political failure and administrative failure,” Rintoul said.
“Now they’re confronted with a very, very sick refugee that they have consistently denied support to, so there’s a large amount of responsibility at their feet.”
The Department of Home Affairs told RNZ Pacific that Yekta nor the others were Australia’s responsibility any longer.
“The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government is responsible for the management of individuals remaining in PNG who were formerly under regional processing arrangements,” it said in a statement.
“The Australian Government does not have any role in the ongoing management for individuals remaining in PNG.”
A Senate inquiry into the historic conditions of Australia’s offshore detention facilities is ongoing.
