Apartheid charges leave Aussie govt red-faced

NEW DELHI, OCT 4: A Brisbane-based Indian doctor accusing the Australian Government of apartheid and discrimination is turning out to be a...

NEW DELHI, OCT 4: A Brisbane-based Indian doctor accusing the Australian Government of apartheid and discrimination is turning out to be a deep embarrassment for them. Dr Mona Verma, the newly-appointed Convenor of the Australian Chapter of the Indian Medical Association, has accused Australian High Commissioner in India, Rob Laurie, and the Australian Government, of human rights violation and apartheid, and has registered a case against them with the Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women (NCW).

Verma alleges that she is being victimised because she complained to the Medical Board of Queensland about the treatment meted out to temporary resident doctors in Australia. She alleges that while working for the `Radio Locum’ service of the Family Care Medical Services in Brisbane, she was asked to declare an old aboriginal women mentally insane by policemen on one of her house visits.

“I was paged saying it was a case of bronchial asthma, but on arriving, found that the police wanted me to declare an aborigine insane so that they could lock her up under the Mental Health Act,” alleges Verma. Since the woman only looked mildly depressed, Verma asked for her medical history, which was refused. Verma refused to certify and lodged a complaint with her service provider and the Medical Board of Queensland.

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On getting no response, she complained to the Health Insurance Commission of Queensland, which did little else than promise — in a letter dated October 25, 1999 — to initiate an inquiry.

The Australian High Commission “chooses not to comment” on her allegations. Says Susan Grace, First Secretary, Australian High Commission: “Questions have been raised about Verma’s ability to practise in Australia and her case is being considered by the Medical Board of Queensland.”

Verma, meanwhile, came back to India and met Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh and the MEA followed up her complaint with Australia’s High Commissioner in India. Says Navrekha Sharma, Joint Secretary (South), Ministry of External Affairs, “We were not completely satisfied with the answer we got from Australian High Commission and have referred the matter to the Indian High Commissioner in Australia.”

Verma says she did not find Laurie “forthcoming” and so lodged a complaint against him and his government with the NCW and the Human Rights Commission. NCW member Pornima Advani has written to Laurie asking him to take action to ensure Verma’s legal and professional rights. Based on his response, it would decide whether to invite Laurie for a conciliatory meeting or summon him for an explanation before the Commission.

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Verma further alleges that temporary resident doctors who are regularly employed to make after hour house calls are often assaulted and abused. “Under the Radio Locum programme, we sit in a car with a navigator chaperone and visit everyone who pages us for help,” she explains. “But since all doctors carry addictive drugs like Pethidine and Morphine, we are often paged by drug addicts who assault us for the drugs.” She says has been assaulted a couple of times, and has also been pressurised to prescribe addictive drugs to addicts.

The NCW will meet soon to decide its course of action, it is learnt.

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