Nauru’s government has ordered Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to stop work there immediately, despite a physical and mental health crisis in the country.
The medical NGO has been providing psychological and psychiatric services to residents, asylum seekers and refugees on the island since late 2017.
MSF staff wrote to its clients on Saturday to tell them it could no longer offer them treatment because of an order from Nauru’s health minister, who said the its services were “no longer required on the island”.
MSF said in its letter that the order meant its “mental health activities in Nauru must stop, effective today, Saturday, 6th of October”.
The Nauruan regime has not given a reason for this decision, but its pretty obvious: because Australia wants them to. MSF referrals are key to refugees winning cases in Australian courts to be transferred there for urgent medical care (which cannot be provided by Nauru's inadequate medical system). No more doctors means no more referrals, and no more refugees entering Australia. As with "Nauru's" decision to ban the media, we will no doubt find Australia's sticky fingers all over this.
Of course, kicking out MSF effectively means prohibiting refugees from receiving proper medical care, a decision which will inevitably cost lives. But Australia and its puppet regime in Nauru don't care about that. They want refugees to kill themselves, or die miserable deaths due to inadequate care, pour encourager les autres.
This decision is pure, unmitigated evil. And both the Australian and Nauruan governments should go to The Hague for it.