Infants and pregnant women will be sent to Manus Island, the Department of Immigration has confirmed, despite it being warned eight months ago that pregnant women risked losing their babies, or their own lives, by taking anti-malaria medication.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The department said at-risk groups would be sent only after appropriate arrangements were in place for young children - but a spokeswoman could not say what these would be.
International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), which runs medical services throughout the detention network, recommended in November that children younger than five not take anti-malaria medicine and said they and pregnant women should not travel to the island, which has endemic rates of malaria.
Fairfax can reveal that three asylum seekers who miscarried after being detained on Manus Island earlier this year blame anti-malaria medications they took, before discovering they were pregnant, for the loss of their unborn babies.
But Immigration Minister Tony Burke said that despite an ''endless series of attempts'' to have him rule out particular groups, ''people will be be sent to Manus Island when I am confident they will be safe and there is appropriate accommodation and services in place''.
Documents released under freedom of information laws show the IHMS told the department in November: ''Pregnant women and children under five years of age are at high risk for severe illness. Non-immune children under five years of age and non-immune pregnant women must be considered separately to other residents and travellers to Manus.
''Pregnant women have an increased risk of death, stillbirth, miscarriage and low birth weight babies [which have a greater risk of neonatal death].''
IHMS said that in the case of children given anti-malaria medication, ''areas of concern would be kidney failure, allergy and psychiatric conditions''.
ChilOut spokeswoman Sophie Peer said she had spoken to three women who had miscarried after being sent to Manus Island.
''Of six women moved off Manus Island to Inverbrackie when they discovered they were pregnant, three have miscarried,'' Ms Peer said ''All six who were pregnant were very fearful.''
All had discovered they were pregnant after having taken the medication, she said. They were later taken back to Australia but three lost their unborn babies.
A department spokeswoman said IHMS had informed it there ''was no indication'' the environment or location the women were kept in had contributed to their miscarriages.
The government had moved women and children from Manus Island back to the mainland in June and July.
Ms Peer said: ''We know that no child under seven has been sent to Manus Island previously and we're shocked that the government would put the lives of children under seven at risk deliberately.''
An Essential poll released on Monday showed 61 per cent of surveyed Australians approved of the federal government's announcement that all asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat will be sent to Papua New Guinea for processing and none will be resettled in Australia.
