Australia must do more to care for asylum seekers held offshore after an Iranian man died in entirely preventable circumstances, Queensland's state coroner says.
Terry Ryan found 24-year-old Hamid Khazaei would be alive if he'd received proper medical care after developing a leg infection at the Australian-run detention centre on Manus Island.
But he died in a Brisbane hospital in September 2014, two weeks after seeking help at the centre's medical clinic, which didn't even have the right kind of antibiotics to treat his infection.
Iranian asylum seeker Hamid Khazaei. Source: Supplied
Clinic staff at the centre failed to recognise his condition was rapidly deteriorating, there were delays getting him to hospital in Port Moresby, and by the time he was flown to Brisbane there was nothing doctors could do.
Mr Ryan said the federal government must act to prevent similar deaths in the future, saying the health care he received did not meet Australian standards.
"I am satisfied that if Mr Khazaei's clinical deterioration was recognised and responded to in a timely way at the (Manus Island) clinic, and he was evacuated to Australia within 24 hours of developing severe sepsis, he would have survived," he said.
He recommended the Home Affairs Department enforce a new policy that puts the clinical needs of detainees first if they need medical transfers that require the approval of immigration authorities.
The coroner said there should be mandatory inquests for asylum seekers who died in offshore centres, to keep the government accountable.
However, he said that was unlikely without a radical revision of policies to deal with asylum seekers who try to get to Australia by boat.
Hamid Khazaei would be alive if he'd received proper medical care, according to Queensland's state coroner. Source: Ian Rintoul/RAC
Mr Ryan also ruled that all offshore health clinics should be audited annually to ensure standards were lifted, and the government should allow experts in emergency medicine to oversee any medical transfer process.
Amnesty International's Kate Schuetze called on the government to heed Mr Ryan's advice.
"The question here today is is the Australian government now going to act on this decision and improve health care for refugees and asylum seekers in its custody whether that's onshore or offshore," she said outside the Brisbane Coroners Court.I
Hamid Khazaei died in a Brisbane hospital 13 days after receiving a cut that became infected at the Manus Island detention centre in 2014. Source: AAP
"This reflects the responsibility of the State to protect and care for people it incarcerates, the vulnerability of people deprived of the ability to care for themselves, the need to ensure the natural suspicion of the deceased's family is allayed, and public confidence in state institutions is maintained," he said.
Australia's offshore detention regime was not within the scope of the inquest but Mr Ryan said it would be possible to prevent further deaths by relocating asylum seekers to other places, such as Australia.
Around a dozen protesters joined Ms Schuetze outside court to voice their concerns over offshore processing.
Barri Phatarfod from Doctors for Refugees said the level of care provided by the Australian government to refugees has been woeful.
"Every doctor in Australia should feel really quite sick to the stomach that that's the kind of care we're giving to individuals," she said.
