By Jess Baker
Queensland Health has responded to claims it is not prioritising urgent NSW-Queensland border permit exemption applications, after a Stanthorpe resident was left sleeping in his car for more than a week while his was processed.
Casey Durrant told Warwick/Stanthorpe Today her father, 57-year-old Kerry Irwin, travelled from Tasmania to Queensland to resume chemotherapy at Toowoomba Hospital.
But upon arriving at the border on Monday 6 September, he was told he could not cross.
She said he then spent the next 11 days waiting at the border, sleeping in his car and under his trailer, while his exemption request was processed.
A Queensland Health spokesman said the department attempted to contact Kerry multiple times over several days, finally making contact with him and approving the request on Friday 17 September.
“The applicant was approved to enter Queensland by road and complete 14 days quarantine at Toowoomba Hospital,” the spokesman said.
He said Queensland Health understood border restrictions were inconvenient and could cause disruption in people’s lives, but those factors had to be balanced against the serious health risk of bringing Covid-19 to the state.
“Hundreds of exemption requests are made each day. Sensitive requests are prioritised, and all cases are considered on a case-by-case basis in receipt of supporting documentation,” the spokesman said.
“Some cases take a considerable length of time to process because of the medical complexity involved, others may be more straightforward. Rarely are two cases the same, and it would be remiss of us to treat them as such.”
The spokesman said qualified clinicians were working as quickly as they could to make transparent, equitable and scientifically sound assessments of each request.
“We understand these are very difficult and trying times for a lot of people, but we must continue to make choices based on what the science tells us. This is not the moment for half measures,” he said.
Casey said her father had his phone “attached to his hip” as he waited for news about his exemption request, and did not receive notification Queensland Health had tried to make contact with him.
Thankfully, she said, Kerry is now safely at Toowoomba Hospital and was able to resume treatment for his leukaemia on Tuesday 21 September.
