The Department of Home Affairs was seeking legal advice on Tuesday about new Nauruan laws imposing further restrictions on the circumstances in which residents of the tiny island nation can be sent overseas for medical treatment.
The new laws also prescribe that a transfer shall not be approved “on the recommendation of an overseas health practitioner by telemedicine examination or diagnosis”. That appears to jeopardise the possibility for a specialist in Australia to successfully recommend a medical transfer after consulting the patient by video conference, for example.
