Doctor stood down over Crown Promenade incident breaks silence
A doctor who was stood down after a man seriously ill with COVID-19 went into a coma has hit back at claims they delayed the patient from urgent hospital care.
The medical professional, who did not want to be identified, was hired to oversee hundreds of people quarantined at Perth's Crown Promenade upon their return to Australia.
The medical professional was hired to oversee hundreds of quarantined people. 9News
The GP was stood down after claims it took 12 hours before quarantined man Ken Watson, from Sydney, was finally sent to hospital for treatment.
"I am one doctor and there are 600 guests," they told 9News.
"I was given a message that this guest had complained, shall we say, that he was malnourished and that he wasn't eating very well.
"That was the message I had and that was what I had to work on."
Mr Watson, a 71-year-old diabetic, was reportedly drifting in and out of consciousness and had shortness of breath, but his family claimed paramedics were turned away from the hotel because his condition wasn't deemed an emergency.
Ken Watson, a 71-year-old diabetic, was reportedly drifting in and out of consciousness and had shortness of breath before he was sent to hospital. Supplied
"At that point I'd had enough," his daughter Belle Watson told 9News.
"I rang the ambulance to call them back out again. I rang the police because I didn't know what else to do. I rang the hotline and escalated it again."
Mr Watson is now in an induced coma at Royal Perth Hospital.
More than 1000 people remain in forced hotel isolation in Perth, banned from leaving their rooms for 14 days.
The state's mental health commission today launched a coronavirus wellness campaign based on hotel lockdowns being an issue.
"It's a difficult one at balancing up the physical health and the infection control we're trying to balance with that," Acting Mental Health Commissioner Jennifer McGrath said.
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