The state of South Australia does not have a cardiac unit for children meaning seriously ill newborns in Adelaide with heart issues are normally taken to Melbourne s Royal Children s Hospital in the nearby state of Victoria but this option has been ruled out due to the pandemic and a ban on inter-state travel, an inquiry heard on Tuesday.
Anyone entering South Australia from Victoria must travel for an essential purpose, which includes urgent medical, dental or health treatment, attending a funeral, or providing health services.
Bernadette Mulholland, an executive at the Salaried Medical Officers Association, said doctors told her, In these four cases, the issue was Victoria not being able to retrieve the babies.
Other health professionals backed her claim that internal cross-border travel restrictions were to blame.
The baby and her parents and sometimes some other relatives and carers would have to go to Melbourne, and then they d have to come back. So there are COVID problems on each end in the sense that when they come back, they d have to be quarantined. Now, none of that is more serious than saving the life of a baby, and I m not sure just why this happened, Flinders University emeritus professor Warren Jones told Sky News Australia.
