Three refugees were removed from offshore centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea to Australia for medical care.
In the first case, a two-year-old girl requiring treatment for encephalitis was flown from Nauru to Papua New Guinea for medical testing. The Australian Federal Court ordered that she be brought to Australia, as the Port Moresby hospital lacked the equipment or the expertise to perform the necessary testing.
In the second case, a 14 year-old girl who attempted to set herself on fire in Nauru will also be transferred to Australia. The girl and her family, who are refugees, have been in Nauru for almost five years.
In the third case, the Australian Federal Court ordered that an Iranian refugee, Fatemeh, and her son be brought to Australia from Nauru for medical care. In March, Fatemeh was flown to Taiwan for heart surgery, before being forcefully returned to Nauru in May. Fatemeh has a serious heart condition and her son, 17, is mentally ill. According to The Guardian, the order is the ninth such case of medical intervention requiring transfer from Nauru or Papua New Guinea to Australia.
Answers to Senate Estimates questions on notice provided recent statistics on the number of people in Australian-led offshore centres in Manus Island and Nauru. At May 2018, there were 939 people in Nauru, of whom 821 were refugees. Of these, 137 were children. At the same time, there were 716 men in Manus Island, of whom 583 were refugees.