Page 4842 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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facility will include a separate, expanded birth centre that will be located on the third floor of the building in close proximity to the labour, birthing, postnatal and recovery rooms. We expect a project manager will be appointed in the next month or so, and we look forward to getting on with this exciting project.
As I said earlier, ACT Health adheres to the stringent World Health Organisation policy on contact tracing and screening for tuberculosis. We have reviewed the circumstances relating to the contact with the infected person in maternity at Canberra Hospital and have determined that no policies or protocols were breached. Tuberculosis, commonly known as TB, is a disease caused by a bacterial infection. It commonly affects the lungs, but it also can infect any other organ of the body. It is spread from person to person through the air when someone with active TB of the lungs or throat coughs or sneezes. It is relatively uncommon in Australia; in the ACT there are on average 10 to 20 new cases of TB per year, and numbers have been steady for the past decade. Most people with TB infection are not contagious; only about 10 per cent of people infected with TB develop active tuberculosis disease that makes the person sick and causes symptoms.
An infected person who does not have active disease cannot transmit TB to another person. Only people with active disease of the lungs or upper airways can potentially pass on the infection to other people. People exposed to TB are only considered at high risk of contracting the infection if they have been in close proximity to the person with TB for long periods. Therefore, many exposed people are likely not to be considered at high risk of contracting TB. Those diagnosed with TB can be treated with antibiotics, after which complete recovery is expected. In the ACT there are on average 10 to 20 new cases of TB a year, and these cases and the contact tracing around them are well managed by the specialists in the thoracic medicine unit at the Canberra Hospital and the Health Protection Service.
The amendment that I have circulated simply acknowledges large parts of Mr Hanson’s motion—that is, that a number of people, including newborn infants, were recently exposed to the risk of being infected by tuberculosis at the Canberra Hospital; that protocols and policies regarding partners staying overnight need to be flexible to allow for the best interests of the family, depending on their individual circumstances; calls on the health minister to clarify the policies and protocols with regard to partners staying overnight in the shared postnatal wards in ACT public hospitals; and to review the circumstances of the recent case where newborn infants were exposed. All of those matters are being done.
I would, in conclusion, say that, whilst I acknowledge all the pain and trauma and anxiety that have been caused to the individuals that have been involved in this episode, I have been disappointed that not one public comment has relayed any concern for the individual involved at the centre of this—the individual who is actually sick. My office has had contact with that family. They are extremely anxious about the level of publicity around this case. I really do not want to go into that any further. As a group of leaders within this community, we should take a second to think about everybody that is involved here and respect their privacy. As a caring community, we should understand that, from time to time, incidents like this will occur. We have to manage those incidents as they occur, but we should respect
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