NAURU – Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has defended the quality of hospital medical services for pregnant women in asylum seeker detention on Nauru.

His comments come as a Somali refugee and her newborn baby boy remain in a Brisbane hospital after they were medically evacuated from Nauru in a critical condition.

Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Collective, said 22-year-old Naima Ahmed was 32 weeks pregnant when she underwent a caesarean section operation on Thursday.

It has been reported she had showed signs of pre-eclampsia when five months pregnant and suffered a fit before surgery.

The ABC understands Ahmed has since been taken off life support and her condition is slowly improving.

Responding to criticism, Dutton said on Saturday there were “significant numbers of medical staff” on Nauru who provided care to asylum seekers in detention.

He said Australia’s policy was firm on not allowing people in offshore detention into Australia, except in an emergency.

“This woman was provided with the medical support that you would expect,” he said.

“There was $11 million of taxpayers money spent to upgrade the medical facility on Nauru.

“Now the arrangement has been if people can’t receive the medical attention that they require that they go to Port Moresby International Hospital.

“If the medical services are not available there, people are brought to Australia.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was also questioned about Ahmed’s condition, but said he would not comment on individual cases.

“Can I just say to you that every support in terms of health including medical support and mental health is provided to the people who are currently living in Nauru,” Turnbull said.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the young mother now in hospital in Brisbane should have been brought to Australia long ago.

“Now, as a direct result of her forced isolation at the hands of the government, she and her newborn baby are fighting for their lives,” she said.

“It’s important to recognise that this was preventable.

“Doctors said that choosing to keep women with complicated and dangerous pregnancies on Nauru, rather than bringing them to Australia, would result in tragedy.

“We should be closing the camps, assessing people’s claims where they are and then flying those who need protection here safely.”

Meanwhile, an Iranian woman who remains in detention on Nauru after giving birth at the local hospital has described it as a “traumatic experience”.

She spoke through a translator in a video provided to the ABC by the Refugee Action Collective.

“I thought if I become refugee my conditions will get better, hospital conditions will get better,” the woman said.

“But unfortunately it was worse. I had to give birth in worst place ever.

“There isn’t any specialist in Nauru. There was just one midwife who was from Fiji. Everywhere was dirty.”

Dutton on Saturday insisted the health facilities on the island were significant and “dozens” of babies had been delivered there throughout the year.

“All I can say to you is the advice is taken from the doctors,” he said in Brisbane.

He also hit out at asylum seeker advocates who suggested the Naima Ahmed was deprived of adequate care.

“They are pushing a particular issue and they are trading in the misery of these people which is appalling,” Dutton said.

“The doctors on the island –medically trained doctors – provided the medical advice about what could be provided to this woman and at which point she needed to be evacuated.”

Asked about her current condition, Dutton would only say that she was “receiving the medical attention that’s required”.

- PNC sources