Tamil asylum-seeker 'could lose leg'

A SRI Lankan asylum-seeker aboard the boat Kevin Rudd asked Indonesia to intercept on its way to Christmas Island last year is set to have a leg amputated unless he receives immediate surgery in Australia, doctors have warned.

And a heavily pregnant woman on board the wooden boat tied up at the Javanese port of Merak for the past 100 days has written to the Prime Minister's wife, Therese Rein, pleading that she use her "God-gifted power" to prevent her and her unborn child suffering any longer "at such a critical stage of pregnancy and life".

"Nothing in our boat is clean or hygienic," the woman, named Manju, wrote. "As it is a season of heavy rain, our boat is also infested with mosquitoes. We are all carrying some sort of viruses. As a pregnant woman, it is unbearable to withstand such a lifestyle."

The 200-plus Tamils on board the Merak boat are refusing to disembark unless they secure the fast resettlement offered to 78 of their comrades on the Oceanic VikingWorsening health problems, and the death late last month of one of those on board, have raised concerns in Indonesia that Australia is not doing enough to help resolve the situation.

Australian surgeon Brian Senewiratne said yesterday that unless seriously injured 37-year-old Sivasamy Sivaruben was operated on "in a major hospital in Australia with proper orthopedic facilities . . . he will certainly lose the leg and there could also be other complications". Indonesian doctors have examined Mr Sivaruben and given him no option but to lose the leg, which is believed to have shrapnel damage from a shell that exploded near him in Sri Lanka.

"This is not surgery that is within the capability of the Indonesian system," Dr Senewiratne said.

And a third asylum-seeker on board the boat, who has lost the sight in one eye from an old shrapnel injury, is set to lose sight from his second eye unless it is operated on -- with a Sydney ophthalmologist of the opinion that the medical expertise necessary is unlikely to be available in Indonesia.

Australian Tamil activist Saradha Nathan, in Jakarta for discussions with Foreign Ministry officials on resolving the crisis, said the officials were adamant the resolution could happen only with Australian participation.

"As far as Indonesia is concerned, this is really not an Indonesian problem; they believe the whole thing has been given the quick flick by Australia," she said.

Australian ambassador for people-smuggling issues Peter Woolcott is expected in Jakarta within days to discuss the matter with Indonesian officials.

Yesterday, a DFAT spokeswoman said the "disembarkation of the people on the Merak vessel is the responsibility of Indonesian authorities."

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Australia would work with the UNCHR to help resettle any asylum-seekers found by Indonesian authorities to be refugees.

But opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said it was clear the Rudd government's policy changes and the "special deal" offered to the Oceanic Viking asylum-seekers were simply encouraging asylum-seekers to put their lives at risk.