THREE asylum-seekers were in hospital last night after a suicide attempt by a detainee in South Australia and a hunger strike by two Bangladeshis in NSW.

“The department has a duty of care towards detainees it takes seriously,” the spokesman said. “If the health or wellbeing of a detainee is threatened by his or her own actions, then the department, through the detention services provider, will ensure the detainee receives necessary treatment and supervision.”

Two Bangladeshi nationals were removed from the Villawood detention centre in western Sydney on Thursday after a prolonged hunger strike and remained in hospital last night. A departmental spokesman said the men were in a stable condition.

THREE asylum-seekers were in hospital last night after a suicide attempt by a detainee in South Australia and a hunger strike by two Bangladeshis in NSW.

Zimbabwean Peter Jackson Mode, 24, was taken unconscious from the Baxter detention centre late on Saturday night after slashing his wrists with broken glass.

He was discovered by a fellow detainee.

Last month Mr Mode’s ankle was broken in a struggle with six guards after he intervened on behalf of another detainee who had refused to go to the management isolation unit. Police are making inquiries into the incident.

Mr Mode was conscious last night and in a stable condition in hospital in Port Augusta.

A spokesman for the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs would not discuss his medical treatment “for privacy reasons”.

“The department has a duty of care towards detainees it takes seriously,” the spokesman said. “If the health or wellbeing of a detainee is threatened by his or her own actions, then the department, through the detention services provider, will ensure the detainee receives necessary treatment and supervision.”

The incident follows warnings from refugee advocate groups that the mental health of asylum-seekers in detention continues to decline.

Rural Australians for Refugees spokesman John Highfield said the attempted suicide was “further evidence that these detention centres are factories for mental health problems”.

He said Mr Mode was in a “very depleted mental state”, having been released from hospital with a broken ankle only to be locked up in the notorious Red One high security compound.

Two Bangladeshi nationals were removed from the Villawood detention centre in western Sydney on Thursday after a prolonged hunger strike and remained in hospital last night. A departmental spokesman said the men were in a stable condition.

“The department does not respond to these sorts of actions,” he said. “These men are protesting their detention. Their protest will not change the outcome of their cases.

“The cases are decided on their merits. Both men have been in the country for some time and have been repeatedly found to have no legal right to a visa. From information available to the Department of Immigration, neither qualify for a visa on any grounds.”

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