Mental health conditions have developed to "inhumane" levels in an Australian offshore detention centre, with 60 per cent of refugees on Nauru experiencing suicidal thoughts, a doctors group says.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a report that 30 per cent of asylum seekers treated on the Pacific Island have attempted to take their own lives, including children as young as nine.
Among 208 patients seen by the group's doctors, 62 per cent had been diagnosed with moderate or severe depression.
Six per cent of refugees have been diagnosed with resignation syndrome, a rare condition where patients enter a semi-comatose state and are unable to eat or drink.
MSF Australia president Stewart Condon is calling for the Australian government to put an immediate end to offshore processing.
"Being trapped in indefinite limbo for five years with unclear and unjust processes has led to widespread feelings of hopelessness," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
"The evidence unequivocally shows that people's mental health is at serious risk when being held in detention.
"This is unacceptable, inhumane and, frankly, dangerous."
MSF Australia psychologist Christine Rufener said there were refugees who had lost all hope.
"Every day I worried which of my patients might attempt to take their own lives," Dr Rufener told reporters.
The release of the MSF Australia report, titled Indefinite Despair, comes as protesters rally outside Parliament House in a bid to push the government to act on removing refugees from detention.
Other rallies will also be held outside the offices of MPs, including the Immigration Minister David Coleman
Independent MP Kerryn Phelps introduced a bill to parliament to facilitate the urgent evacuation of any asylum seeker who was critically ill and unable to be treated offshore.
It would strip existing legislation for the ability of Australia's immigration minister to veto medical transfer requests from treating doctors.
"It is appalling that the Australian government has pushed children to such despair, to the point where they've lost the will to live," Dr Phelps told parliament on Monday.
Dr Phelps has the backing of fellow crossbenchers Andrew Wilkie, Rebekha Sharkie and Adam Bandt but she will need more support to bring on debate in the lower house.
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