Kookaburra, along with many other Australians, is very weary of listening to pontificating doctors, health professionals, epidemiologists, chief medical officers and the whole array of health ‘industry’ persons talking down to the population about what we should or should not be doing.

These people never ever seem able to accept that they often get things wrong. Indeed, they have made some horrid mistakes. Yet, even when their advice is demonstrably failing, even on their own measure, they carry on, unhindered by the day to day concerns confronting those whom they order about.

Is any personal responsibility accepted ever for their multitude of errors? Is there any form of redress, even, dare one suggest it – punishment ? Never, as far as one can see.

Despite a cavalcade of mistakes and clearly bad advice, the creation of a wasteland of lost jobs, collapsed businesses and destroyed lives, this ‘profession’ still believes that we should listen to its members above all other voices in the community. Indeed, the health ‘industry’ is now demanding more and more government, especially police and army, enforcement of its edicts.

As the health ‘industry’s prescriptions for success fail time and time again, the screams for obedience to its ever increasing array of rules and regulations, leading us on a road to nowhere, become louder and louder. Why should we listen?

What brought this home again to Kookaburra recently was the story about the death in 2019 of a poor little eight year old boy who was visiting his grandparents in Tasmania. He knew what was wrong with him. The hospital to which he was taken did not. Here is the headline from the ABC news : ‘Coroner says boy, 8, died of asthma after hospital staff ‘thought he was having panic attack’. Read the article. The fallibility of the health ‘industry’ is exposed – again. The usual insensitivity of the health ‘industry’ to any criticism is summed up in the final sentence of the article – “The Tasmanian Health Service was contacted for comment”. One can safely assume none was forthcoming.

Sadly, this is but one of many similar stories of a desperately woeful health ‘industry’ and its concept of ‘service’. If one wants to look at how dire things have become in the health system in rural and regional New South Wales take a look at the submissions made to the New South Wales Upper House inquiry into “Health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote New South Wales”. Truly horrifying stories of the wilful neglect of patients and multiple errors.

One of the most illuminating submissions was submitted by Dr. Nigel Roberts, Director of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Manning Hospital. In particular, Dr. Roberts refers to Dr. Emil Gayed, who was allowed to practice for years in the district. Here is an extract from Dr. Roberts’s submission :

“His patients suffered adverse outcomes that were not reported or were not investigated thoroughly, because there was no-one with the necessary expertise to do it, and because follow-up unless needing an admission was completed entirely within his private rooms. Procedures were performed by Gayed without the standard required proceeding investigations (e.g., LLETZ procedures without colposcopies). Babies suffered birth injury because there was no-one in the hospital available to deliver them in a timely manner“.

Before the health ‘industry’ takes it upon itself to start ordering about the rest of the community, it needs to get its own house in order. We need more health professionals of the ilk of Dr. Roberts.

Let’s look at some other issues related to the areas of responsibility of the pontificators from the health ‘industry’ – just in regard to Covid-19 :

1. What have the health professionals (and the relevant politicians and bureaucrats) been doing since March of last year? Why are we told that hospitals might be overloaded due to the Delta strain? They have had eighteen months to sort this out, to be prepared. Instead, they basked in their own self-created glory, smugly telling the population that Australia and New Zealand were the poster children of the ‘eliminate Covid’ gallery. Meanwhile, Delta was brewing, soon to expose their utter failure to consolidate on what was always destined to be a very temporary ‘success’. Nobody was held responsible.
   
2. What were they doing in the previous eighteen years since the SARS pandemic to develop a pandemic strategy? Or is it because they threw the then existent pandemic strategy, the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza (AHMPPI), which did not include lockdowns, out the window in March 2021, with the result that they had no plan?
   
   Indeed, the discarded plan even listed amongst the risks: “When people are isolated at home caregivers would be at high risk of infection due to more concentrated exposure and, families would be at risk of infection” – which indeed is what is happening in South-West Sydney right now.
   
   As to the effectiveness of isolation strategies the plan stated: “Minor. In modelling studies, isolation of infectious cases is effective in reducing transmission by reducing cumulative attack rates, even in models assuming high transmissibility. However, this assumes the ability to identify cases. Mild or asymptomatic cases are difficult to detect and therefore not usually isolated, reducing the effectiveness of this measure.”
   
   The plan stated also that travel restrictions would be of limited benefit, except to protect remote communities, and could cause dislocations of supply chains – once again, what we see happening now.
   
   Despite this, even if the decision was made to ditch the pandemic strategy, which had been worked on for a decade since 2009, and the plan was replaced by a process which resembled more a panic than a plan, then why did hospitals not even have enough masks or PPE gear? Why had rotations of staff in and out of isolation not been determined? An array of basic things, never addressed. Nobody was held responsible.
   
3. Ruby Princess? This outbreak led to 28 deaths, with a possible further 10 deaths in Tasmania due to the arrival in Tasmania of passengers from the Ruby Princess, and over 900 infections. The report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess can be found here.
   
   The report found, inter alia: “NSW Health should have ensured that cruise ships were aware of the change to the definition of a “suspect case” for COVID-19 made on 10 March. This would have resulted in the identification of such cases on the Ruby Princess. 101 persons fell within the suspect case definition by 18 March, and 120 by the time the ship docked. NSW Health should also have ensured that such persons were isolated in cabins. These were serious mistakes by NSW Health” and “The failure to ensure that swabs were collected by an onboard health assessment team in accordance with the requirements of the 9 March Enhanced Procedure was a serious failure by NSW Health” and “The delay in obtaining test results for the swabs taken from the Ruby Princess on the morning of 19 March is inexcusable. Those swabs should have been tested immediately” and “In light of all the information the Expert Panel had, the decision to assess the risk as “low risk” – meaning, in effect, “do nothing” – is as inexplicable as it is unjustifiable. It was a serious mistake“.
   
   Who was responsible for that disaster? The Chief Medical Officer and the Minister for Health remain in their well paid jobs. Nobody was held responsible.
   
4. Hotel quarantine outbreak in Victoria? This outbreak led to the deaths of 768 people, the infection of 18,418 others and a 111-day lockdown of Melbourne. The report of the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry can be found here. The inquiry found that despite the Review of Australia’s Health Sector Response to the (H1N1) Pandemic 2009 recommending an examination of the policy on quarantine and isolation, including management, support systems and communication, nothing was done.
   
   The review recommended that: “The roles and responsibilities of all governments for the management of people in quarantine, both at home and in other accommodation, during a pandemic should be clarified. A set of nationally consistent principles could form the basis for jurisdictions to develop operating guidelines, including plans for accommodating potentially infected people in future pandemics and better systems to support people in quarantine”.
   
   Professor Brett Sutton, who is still Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, gave evidence that no work had been done, nationally or in any jurisdiction of Australia, to implement this recommendation since it was made in 2011. Nobody was held responsible.
   
   Brett Sutton gasps at fear mongering media conferences that Covid-19 is ‘a beast’. Yes, there is a beast amongst us Professor Sutton, it is the gargantuan, ungainly health ‘industry’ stumbling recklessly about, a leviathan of bureaucratic insensitivity, creating death and destruction across the nation and not least of all in your tormented State of Victoria.
   
5. Aged care deaths in Victoria? A report was commissioned into the deaths of 45 residents at St Basil’s Home for the Aged and 38 residents at Heritage Care’s Epping Gardens. Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Independent review of COVID-19 outbreaks at St Basil’s and Epping Gardens aged care facilities can be found here. Findings included : “Emergency planning and preparedness was inadequate. Documentation and interviews indicated poor planning or planning which relied significantly on external (potentially already depleted) resources” and “Infection prevention and control (IPC) capacity and capability were suboptimal in these settings. Accreditation requirements (which had been met) were no match for a virus that could spread so rapidly in local communities and into residential aged care. Despite multiple reminders to providers to prepare for a potential COVID-19 outbreak, the review identified inadequate administrative and environmental controls and staff training in key aspects of IPC at both facilities prior to the outbreak” and “Health department, interagency support and communications remain an ongoing challenge but the reviewers note significant improvement and streamlining of communication” and “Pathology testing was delayed at both facilities“.
   
   Yet, everyone gets to keep their job. Nobody was held responsible.
   
6. In New South Wales, the Newmarch House outbreak which led to 17 deaths attributed directly to Covid-19. The report into the Newmarch House COVID-19 Outbreak [April-June 2020] can be found here. The report findings included :”Emergency response and interagency operations were characterised by a lack of clarity in the relationships and hierarchy among government health agencies, including Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, NSW Health, the Commonwealth Department of Health and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission” and “Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) was identified as a significant concern with shortcomings identified in the early, crucial phases” and “Whilst HITH [Hospital in the Home]has many advantages for elderly residents and the health system, its implementation was compromised by inadequate staffing and support“.
   
   Nobody was held responsible.
   
7. Confused vaccine advice? Replete with disputes between health professionals, an array of epidemiologists, Chief Medical Officers (CMOs), the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), the Burnett Institute, and the Doherty Institute (to name just a few) with each and everyone of them convinced of their infallibility. Nobody is held responsible when their various pronouncements, upon which policy is based, are varied substantially or are withdrawn entirely.
   
8. Delta strain outbreak in Sydney. Over 100 deaths, so far, caused by this outbreak. The economy of South-Eastern Australia destroyed. Thirteen million people in lockdown. Some basic questions in regard to this outbreak: What were international cabin crew even doing in a limo – there are hotels NEXT to the airport? Why was the driver unvaccinated and unmasked (if that is what the health advice recommends)? Was there any plan at all? Were any instructions or guidance provided to limo drivers and flight crew? Eighteen months down the track and this happens? There does not seem to be even a discussion about holding an enquiry into this cavalcade of errors. Nobody was held responsible.
   
9. Failure to deliver vaccines to Western NSW to ensure indigenous populations are vaccinated? Nobody was held responsible.
   
10. Regular outbreaks of Covid-19 in Sydney Hospitals. On August 23rd the Sydney Morning Herald was reporting that one in five deaths in the current Covid-19 outbreak contracted the disease whilst in hospital. By September 2nd the Herald was reporting a death from Covid-19 of a patient who contracted the disease at a sixth hospital. To quote from the article: “Fatal COVID-19 outbreaks have now occurred at six Sydney hospitals: Hornsby and Liverpool, as well as Nepean, where five deaths have occurred, Canterbury, where five deaths have occurred, St George, where two patients on the oncology ward died, and Cumberland, where one mental health patient died”.
    
    In another Herald article headed “Daughter of man who caught COVID-19 at Liverpool Hospital says he died alone and confused” dated 23rd August describes the tragic story of a daughter unable to farewell her dying father who contracted Covid-19 whilst in hospital. The response of the health ‘industry’ in the form of a statement from the South Western Sydney Local Health District was “…no breaches of infection control were identified“. Nobody was held responsible.
    
    Well, something went wrong, didn’t it? Or is part of the plan that old people go to hospital to contract Covid-19 and to die alone, separated from their families? Maybe South Western Sydney Local Health District needs to review its infection control plan? How about that for an idea? The bureaucratic callousness of the statement says a lot about the way the health ‘industry’ in this country malfunctions. In the words of Ms. Shakir: “Since this lockdown was put in place, I haven’t seen my father, but where’s the proof that this is working, the number of cases are increasing daily, there must be something wrong somewhere.”

The point being that, yes, we understand that a virus can easily escape. However, equally, the health ‘industry’ needs to accept that it is not perfect. If the health ‘industry’ cannot take measures to ensure that its own staff and premises can control the virus, why should we take any notice of its edicts directing us as to how we should lead our lives?

Instead, the health ‘industry’ pushes the blame onto the community. Ducking and weaving away from the horrendous costs of its advice. Avoiding any acceptance that the array of failures which could have been avoided, such as those listed above, were within the control of the health ‘industry’ itself. Seemingly uninterested in the many deaths and other impacts, such as the explosion in mental health conditions, caused by the responses to Covid-19 based on its own advice.

Indeed, the health ‘industry’ is very adept at pointing the finger at others when the cause has been its own failings.

Take the example of the South Australian pizza shop owner whose story of being shamed publicly by SA Health for no reason appears in the ABC story headed “Woodville Pizza Bar owner speaks out nine months after SA COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown“.

Sam Norouzi explains how a failure at Peppers medi-hotel in Adelaide, where the Covid-19 virus had spread from an infected traveller from the UK was wrongly attributed to a supposed cluster emanating from his pizza shop. As the ABC article states: “The state’s Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier speculated he may have caught the virus from the pizza box, possibly evidence of a new, highly-infectious strain of the virus, and recommended the state be placed into a hard lockdown”.

The Premier, Steve Marshall, instituted a taskforce of 22 detectives to investigate one of Mr. Norouzi’s employees. The findings of that report have never been made public and:

“When asked by the ABC whether any report had been conducted into the decision to enter a lockdown, SA Health said no report was publicly available. Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier declined an interview request.”

Arrogance and insensitivity. Especially concerning given that following the finger pointing by the Chief Public Health Officer: “Anti-Woodville Pizza Bar social media pages were created that included violent threats. Police were stationed outside the pizza shop to protect it“.

Mr Norouzi and his family were unfairly threatened, abused and accused. After the statements by the Chief Public Health Officer.

As always, the health sector is very good at pontificating at the general level but is very averse to accepting any responsibility in particular cases. Indeed, health professionals often, very often, gets things deadly wrong.

Professor Ian Scott, Director of Internal Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology at Princess Alexandra Hospital, and Associate Professor Carmel Crock, Emergency Department Director at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in a ‘Perspectives’ article in the September 2020 edition of the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) entitled Diagnostic error: incidence, impacts, causes and preventive strategies estimated that 140,000 cases of diagnostic error occur in Australia each year. Of those cases, 21,000 are of serious harm, and result in 2,000 to 4,000 deaths. We need to recognise that health professionals are not infallible, they make mistakes just as we other mere mortals do and we need to make allowance for that reality when listening to their edicts and to their pronouncements.

So, let’s come to terms with this and say to the health ‘industry’, thank you for your advice. However, you will not dictate our existences. We will make our own decisions and do what you appear to be unwilling to do – accept responsibility for those decisions.

In order to return to being considered a profession, those involved in the health ‘industry’ must be seen to accept personal responsibility for their decisions. Maybe then we might start listening to them again.