PAPUA NEW GUINEA – The medical clinic at Australia’s detention centre on Manus Island may be shut down because its operator did not comply with medical registration laws

PNG’s Health Minister Michael Malabag is preparing a report for the country’s National Executive Council on alleged breaches of the Medical Registration Act by International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), which is paid by the Australian government to provide medical care to asylum seekers on Manus Island.

“The committee I set up will give me a report by early next week,” Malabag said.

“In the meantime, I am very disappointed our laws have not been complied with.

“We must not be taken for a ride,” he said.

The company is accused of operating its clinic without the proper registration and the committee is also reportedly investigating alleged breaches of tax, labour and immigration laws.

There were rumours from inside the centre that the clinic was preparing to close, but Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection did not respond to questions about that.

Instead it said: “The registration of medical facilities in Papua New Guinea is the responsibility of the Papua New Guinean Medical Board”.

The ABC has contacted IHMS for a response.

Meanwhile, a sick young male asylum seeker is being allowed to stay in Port Moresby over fears he may die or suffer serious injury if returned to the Australian-run detention centre on Manus Island.

The National Justice Project obtained an injunction by the Federal Court on Thursday afternoon to stop the Immigration Department from transferring a man with dwarfism from Port Moresby to Manus Island detention centre without his medical condition being properly assessed.

The man, whose identity has been suppressed, was held at the detention centre for more than three-and-a-half years before he was transferred to Port Moresby by the Immigration Department for medical treatment, following pressure from medical advocacy organisation Doctors4Refugees and other rights groups.

George Newhouse of the National Justice Project told SBS News: “We took this action on behalf of the individual because we received clear advice from a medical specialist that it was unsafe for the man, known as AWP17, to be returned to Manus Island without assessment, a diagnosis and if necessary a care and treatment plan.”

In a media release, Newhouse said he and his colleagues were concerned that the government had failed to properly assess and diagnose his genetic skeletal dysplasia.

He added they were concerned about his eye and stomach medical conditions, and medical experts had said that the risks the man faced were “significant”.

The National Justice Project was advised that if the asylum seeker were assaulted, such as by being put in a head lock, he could die or acquire a long-term disability such as quadriplegia.

The Immigration Department has not addressed his risk of physical harm, Newhouse said.

“As we understand it, there is no plan in place to assess this man or protect him from such risks.”

The National Justice Project is also concerned that medical facilities in Port Moresby may be insufficient. - ABC/SBS