In a controversial vote, Australia has repealed a law allowing refugees and asylum-seekers detained in offshore processing centers to be sent to Australia for medical treatment. 

Commonly known as the Medevac Bill, the law allowed refugees to be evacuated to Australia for urgent medical treatment. Passed in February, 179 people had been transferred from Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG) for treatment in Australia. 

Prior to the bill being passed, 12 asylum seekers had died in offshore detention. Public outrage contributed to the passing of the bill, sparked by reports of a health crisis among detainees, including stories of children as young as 11 attempting suicide. 

Citing "national security concerns," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison argued that the bill was a loophole that needed to be closed. "We've always understood that that type of loophole doesn't strengthen our borders, it only weakens them," said Morrison. 

Australia's hardline immigration policy mandates that any asylum seeker arriving by boat will be processed offshore. In 2013, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that any asylum seekers coming by boat would "never be settled in Australia." 

Following the repeal, Médecins Sans Frontières said it would endanger patients and is "unethical and harmful to vulnerable people and the entire medical profession."

"Asylum seekers and refugees who remain indefinitely contained on Nauru and PNG have been blocked again from accessing treatment for critical health conditions where adequate care is not available locally," said Paul McPhun, executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières Australia.

It's believed that there are more than 400 people still detained in PNG and Nauru, estimated Behrouz Boochani to AlJazeera. The activist had been detained on PNG's Manus Island since 2013, and last month was allowed to travel to New Zealand for a literary festival. 

Independent Andrew Wilkie says parliament has "sunk to a new low" with its repeal. Refuting claims that medevac has created a national security problem, he argued appropriate medical care is a basic human right.

"What have we come to as a nation when we are prepared to treat human beings so cruelly?" asked Wilkie.

(Cover photo from VCG)