Newcastle University Nursing Students to Support Health System During Corona-virus Pandemic

BY KEELY JOHNSON

Medical and Nursing students in their final year at the Universality of Newcastle are preparing to support health care workers deal with the Corona-virus pandemic, as unprecedented strain on the industry continues to increase.

Students were set to undergo clinical placement this week, however, they have since been put on hold.

General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, Brett Holmes, says whilst tertiary students will provide a much-needed helping hand, as demand on the health system in Hospitals and aged-care facilities continues to rise, registered nurses should be employed first.

"We do call upon the Hunter New England local health district to make sure that it has employed as many of our qualified nurses as possible, before they start using students out of the University," says Mr Holmes.

"When students are necessary to bring into the system, we want to make sure they are appropriately placed in safe work place situations... We want to ensure where necessary they are provided with all levels of personal protective equipment that they need to stay safe."

 Students that are willing, will have the chance to provide a helping hand in the front-line, completing tasks such as staffing fever clinics, taking temperatures and bathing at Hunter hospitals.

Mr Holmes says assurances need to be made, students will be supervised and supported throughout their shifts, and believes they should be paid for the valuable work they perform.

"We believe they should be employed and paid for this work. Like every worker, they are putting their life at some risk and deserve to be paid for it," he says.

"This is a unique situation where we need to utilize additional staff but we do need to make sure they're safe, their practice is safe and that we can deliver the best possible care in these extraordinary situation."

Concerns have been raised over the availability of masks within the health care system, an issue Mr Holmes says his organisation is sending strong messages to the Ministry of Health about.

"That is an issue which is under constant attention, and we will continue to advocate for our members around the proper provision of personal protective equipment," he says.

"There are masks available, they're just made available on a limited basis. Many people are concerned about the fact this disease is contagious before its symptomatic, which puts many people working in the health system on edge."

"We would appeal to people to not steal masks and sanitizer out of our health system, which is an unfortunate reality that our members have experienced."

Image Credit: University of Newcastle 

Newcastle Doctor on Probation after Injecting Consenting Patients with Cannabis OIl

BY GARY-JON LYSAGHT

Newcastle doctor Andrew Katelaris has had another stoush with the Health Care Complaints Commission, after he injected two ovarian cancer patients with black market cannabis oil.

The patients had consented to the experimental treatment.

Andrew Katelaris [Image: Getty Images]

The HCCC have prohibited Dr Katelaris from injecting, supplying and administering cannabis for medicinal use.

The decision was made after the HCCC found the injections “resulted in serious adverse reactions and their [the patients] prolonged hospitalisation”.

“[Dr Katelaris] devised a hasty, ill-conceived and unsafe clinical trial of injected cannabis oil as a treatment for malignant ascites,” the HCCC said in a statement.

Dr Katelaris has been a long-time advocate for the use of medicinal cannabis, and was deregistered more than a decade ago for supplying cannabis to patients.

He was also charged with growing more than 50-thousand cannabis plants near Dungog.

He said the use of cannabis oil was the best treatment for the patients.

“They [the two patients] were both suffering severe peritoneal carcinomatosis, with bowel obstructions – so it can’t really get much worse than that,” he said.

“It was a desperate situation, which called for desperate action.”

He also said the treatment was a partial success.

“One of the ladies – the one that we documented – actually had a 50 percent reduction in her cancer markers,” he said.

“They [the HCCC] … ignored that in their, sort of, rushed approach to prosecute the nasty, maverick Dr Katelaris, rather than actually looking at what may have been achieved during these brief trials.”

The Turnbull Government have begun plans to introduce medicinal cannabis for patients who need it, but Dr Katelaris said it’s all talk.

“There’s been a lot of rhetoric both from Turnbull and Baird, and others about how much they’re doing to facilitate medical cannabis,” he said.

“But at this stage, not single child or adult in this state, or country, has received legal medical cannabis so it’s simply up to the activists to fill that yawning hole.”

Despite the new restrictions put him, Dr Katelaris is going to keep promoting medical cannabis’ benefits.

“The HCCC does what the HCCC does, and that’s retard progress,” he said.

“We see this as another small step in a very, very long march to have rational health therapy available for the population.

“The move to have medical cannabis widely accepted and applied across a range of serious and currently intractable diseases is unstoppable overseas.

“All that the establishment can do in this country is slow it down.”