PLoS Medicine
http://www.plosmedicine.org/
(Accessed 20 February 2016)

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Essay
The Health Care Consequences Of Australian Immigration Policies
John-Paul Sanggaran, Bridget Haire, Deborah Zion
Essay | published 16 Feb 2016 | PLOS Medicine
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001960
Summary Points
:: In Australia, immigration policy is to incarcerate those seeking asylum in order to deter others from coming.
:: Within this environment, health care providers frequently experience “dual loyalty” conflict, whereby they cannot serve the interests of both their patients and their employers.
:: The ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) would allow for domestic and international monitoring of places of detention, which would serve to ameliorate some of the most problematic aspects of the detention system, including the undemocratic lack of transparency.
:: This would assist in resolving the “dual loyalty” conflict that health care workers must contend with in the current situation.