Torres hospitals won't turn away PNG sick

Australian hospitals in the Torres Strait will not turn away Papua New Guinea nationals seriously ill with tuberculosis despite the planned closure of specialist TB clinics. Queensland Health on Monday said PNG nationals who presented at hospitals on Boigu and Saibai Islands in the Torres Strait would continue to receive emergency care if needed. "All emergency cases presenting to Queensland Health facilities, regardless of their nationality, receive treatment appropriate to their condition," Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said in a statement. The department will close tuberculosis clinics on both islands from July 1 after the federal government indicated it would stop funding the service, which is aimed at PNG nationals. Health advocates have criticised the closures while Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch says TB sufferers will be forced to "island hop all the way to Cairns" until the situation improves at Daru. Under a treaty between the Australian and PNG governments, residents of the country's western province are allowed to travel to northern islands in the Torres Strait for traditional purposes. The treaty does not specifically relate to medical care but Queensland Health provides the TB clinics for PNG nationals under the direction of the federal government. The federal government says it is focused on helping PNG to improve services on its side of the border, reducing the reliance on Australian facilities. AusAid has directed $43 million toward PNG health services, including the improvement of TB treatment at Daru hospital. Those living in the impoverished western province say they could not do without access to the Saibai and Boigu hospitals. PNG father Aniba Peteru endured an eight-hour voyage in a dinghy from Daru to Saibai earlier this year in a desperate attempt to seek help for his daughter Mathi, who died of TB a week later after being transferred to Cairns Base Hospital. He will fly back to Daru on Tuesday with her body, but hopes to bring his three remaining children to Saibai in a fortnight because he fears they too have the disease. "I am worried about them, that's why I want to bring them back," he told AAP. He said Queensland Health staff had promised to see his children and treat them if necessary, despite the closure of the clinics. However, Queensland Health denied it had agreed to treat the children. "Queensland Health made no such commitment. Further, the treatment of overseas nationals is the responsibility of the home country, or the Australian Government through aid initiatives," the department said in a statement. Mr Peteru said he would like to see services improve at Daru but in the meantime he says the situation would be dire for people from his region without access to the Australian hospitals. "The clinics in Papua New Guinea are not good, that is why people are coming to Australia," he said. "We will not have a life if they close it because there is no medicine in Daru. There is good medicine in Australia."