They want the government to transfer the remaining children from Nauru, and to allow urgent medical transfers for adult refugees and asylum seekers on the basis of medical advice.

“The medical evidence is clear,” Professor David Isaacs, paediatrician and RACP Fellow, said.

“Offshore detention has had significant and detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of refugees, particularly children and their families.

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“There is a medical crisis in offshore detention. I witnessed it myself when I treated children on Nauru four years ago. But it is a crisis that is entirely preventable. The government can act to end it.

Professor Isaacs visited Nauru as a paediatric specialist in 2014. He told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2017 that the 30 children he saw – including a six-year-old who had tried to kill herself, and a two-year-old on anti-psychotic medicines – were the most traumatised children he had ever consulted.

“In the last five years,” Professor Isaacs continued, “12 people have died within offshore detention arrangements. We cannot wait until another person dies. We have a responsibility to act.

“In Australia, clinical need, not politics, should determine access to assessment and care. This should apply equally on Manus Island and Nauru.

“If a person needs urgent medical support, access to care must be determined by a doctor – not a politician.

“Regardless of your opinion on offshore processing, nobody wants to see critically ill people denied the medical treatment they need,” Professor Isaacs said.