Asian doctors say they are getting racially abused by parents who don't want their children being treated by them amid coronavirus fears

  • Families are rejecting treatment from Asian doctors over coronavirus fears 
  • Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital reported several cases of racial abuse 
  • The hospital alerted The Department of Health and campaigned against racism
  • Chinese citizens continue to face worldwide backlash fueled by the coronavirus 

By Isabelle Stackpool For Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press

Published: | Updated:

Parents are refusing to let their children be treated by Asian doctors amid fears that they will contract coronavirus, say some medics. 

Some families at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital have been rejecting health professionals of Asian appearance with many asking if they have been tested for COVID-19.

Staff also reported seeing patients refuse to share waiting rooms with Asian families after wrongfully believing that their ethnicity is linked to the virus.  

Patients at Melbourne's Royal Children's hospital have refused treatment from Asian doctors

Patients at Melbourne's Royal Children's hospital have refused treatment from Asian doctors

Families avoided doctors and patients of Asian descent amid coronavirus fears (file image)

Families avoided doctors and patients of Asian descent amid coronavirus fears (file image) 

The director of emergency medicine at the Royal Children's Hospital, Stuart Lewena, said that the Department of Health were alerted after several staff members reported hearing racist comments. 

He explained that a doctor was told by parents of a child she was treating that they weren't comfortable with her treating their child due to the risk of coronavirus.

Dr Lewena spoke at a press conference on Thursday and said: 'It was clear that message was sent on the basis of her race. We intervened to highlight to that family that wasn't acceptable and we've been supporting that staff member'. 

'We want to use this as an opportunity to say that's not acceptable in healthcare and it's certainly not acceptable in our society.'

Dr Lewena said three more staff members also came forward to say they had similar experiences. 

He told reporters that 'Paranoia around coronavirus is acceptable, but we need to be sensible and respectful in terms of how we go about dealing with it.'  

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos also noted that the racial fears in regards to coronavirus were unnecessary.  

'There is no place for this behaviour in our public hospitals, there is no place for this in our broader community,' she said in a statement on Thursday. 

Melbourne's Children's Hospital launched an anti-racism warning on Thursday that criticized any abusive behaviour shown amid the coronavirus paranoia.

Doctors around Australia have spoken out about being racially abused by patients. 

Gold Coast surgeon Dr Rhea Liang posted a tweet last month that said: 'Today a patient made jokes about not shaking my hand because of coronavirus. In front of my team.

'I have not left Australia. This is not sensible public health precautions. This is racism.'

The Department of Health spoke out against racial abuse fueled by the virus (file image)

The Department of Health spoke out against racial abuse fueled by the virus (file image) 

Other doctors also reported being asked if coronavirus could be contracted from Chinese food or from sitting next to a person of Asian descent.   

Chinese citizens have faced a racist backlash across the world following the outbreak of the deadly virus.

Restaurants in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam have all refused to accept Chinese customers and French Asians began a trending hashtag that said 'JeNeSuisPasUnVirus' ('IAmNotAVirus'). 

The risk of contracting coronavirus in Victoria is very low with only three people currently infected. They are all in isolation after returning from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.   

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES: 4  

January 25

  • Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China are confirmed to have contracted the disease.
  • Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.
  • They were treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital

January 27 

  • A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.
  • The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms. 

VICTORIA: 7

January 25

  • A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.
  • The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.
  • He was quarantined at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne's east.

January 29

  • A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.
  • He became unwell on January 23 - two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. 
  •  The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre.

January 30

  • A woman in her 40s is found to have coronavirus. 
  • She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.
  • She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital.          

    February 1

    • A woman in her 20s in Melbourne is found to have the virus 

     February 22 

    • Two passengers taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive
    • February 25
    • Third passenger take off the cruise ship tests positive

    QUEENSLAND: 8

    January 29

    • Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national was diagnosed with the virus. He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital.

    January 30

    • A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition.  

    February 4

    • An eight-year-old boy has been diagnosed coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from    

    February 5  

    • The case was found in a 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast

    February 6

    • A 37-year-old woman has been diagnosed with coronavirus from the same travel group that flew to Queensland from Melbourne on January 27
    February 21                                                                                                                                      
    • Two Queensland women, aged 54 and 55, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be flown to Brisbane for further treatment. 
    • A 57-year-old woman from Queensland also tests positive for the virus  

    SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 3

    February 1

    • A Chinese couple in their 60s who arrived in Adelaide from Wuhan to visit relatives are confirmed to have coronavirus.
    • A 24-year-old woman from South Australia has been transferred to Royal Adelaide Hospital

    WESTERN AUSTRALIA: 1

    February 21

    • A 78-year-old man from Western Australia was transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth

    JAPAN/DARWIN: 22    

    • 15 Australians were among 219 confirmed cases of the coronavirus contracted on board Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama. 
    • Seven passengers who were on board the Diamond Princess then tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at the Manigurr-ma Village Howard Springs facility in Darwin
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    Asian doctors say they are getting racially abused by patients due to coronavirus fears 

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