A heavily pregnant diabetic asylum seeker is receiving sufficient medical support in Nauru's detention centre, the Immigration Department says, despite doctors calling on Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to fly her to Australia to give birth.
Melbourne neonatalist Dr Andrew Watkins declined a request from health agency Aspen Medical on Thursday to fly to Nauru on Friday  to take care of the Kurdish woman's baby for about a week following a planned caesarean.
The Mercy Health specialist said Nauru did not have enough staff with intensive neonatal care experience. 
"It was quite clear to me I couldn't provide a competent service and this wasn't an emergency call ... it was possible to move her to Australia," he said.
Dr Watkins later learned that the woman was reportedly diabetic.
He has written to the chief medical officer of the Australian Border Force saying it was a "high-risk situation" for a woman whose baby would require special neonatal care to give birth on Nauru.
Babies born by caesarean to mothers with gestational diabetes have a far greater risk of developing respiratory distress.
"If everything went swimmingly, you might get away with it, but if you've got a baby born with significant respiratory distress ... you'd suddenly be faced with moving the baby elsewhere, and there's good evidence that in utero is the safest way to transfer a baby," Dr Watkins said.
An Immigration Department spokesman said the woman, who is 40 weeks pregnant, was  "fully engaged with primary and specialist healthcare practitioners. All appropriate support is being provided to this woman."
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton did not answer Fairfax's questions about whether the woman should be flown to Australia for specialist care, saying: "Decisions on medical treatment are a matter for medical practitioners. The department is guided by and acts upon the advice of its medical experts."
Australian Medical Association president  Brian Owler said on Friday that it was "time for the minister to show some humanity and compassion and fly this desperate woman to Australia for appropriate care".
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists agreed, saying Mr Dutton needed to give an assurance that the asylum seeker would receive obstetric care equal to Australian standards.
The college's president, Professor Michael Permezel, said he was concerned for both the mother and the baby's wellbeing.
"All women have the right to quality medical care regardless of social, political and economic status, and the college wishes to see the same standard of healthcare provided for asylum seekers as is provided for Australian women," he said.
Dr Watkins said he and at least one other doctor had received requests to care for the baby via social media network LinkedIn.
Until a few years ago, he said, pregnant asylum seekers were typically flown from Nauru to Australia 35 weeks into their pregnancy to give birth, in recognition of the fact they could not be safely monitored on the island. He had looked after dozens of such babies.
"The straight medical facts speak for themselves and there is an obligation to provide proper care."
The latest case comes weeks after a Somali asylum seeker allegedly raped on Nauru was transferred to Australia for an abortion. The government had allowed the woman to seek medical advice in Australia, but sent her back to Nauru, saying she had changed her mind on the procedure.
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