Part 3AManagement of infectious diseases
Orders: Medical examination orders and orders concerning contacts
92ZHMedical examination orders
The District Court may, on the application of a medical officer of health, make a medical examination order in respect of an individual if the court is satisfied that—
- the individual may have an infectious disease (for example, because the individual is, or has been, in contact with a person who has the infectious disease); and
- the individual’s medical practitioner or a medical officer of health has asked the individual to undergo, within a specified period, a medical examination to establish whether the individual has the infectious disease; and
- the individual has not undergone that examination within that period; and
- the individual poses a public health risk.
The medical examination order must direct the individual to undergo whatever medical examinations the medical officer of health considers necessary to establish whether the individual has the infectious disease.
The medical examination order may also impose on the individual, until those examinations are completed, any 1 or more of the requirements stated in section 92ZA(1)(b), (c), (d), (h), (i), and (j) that the court thinks necessary to prevent or minimise the public health risk that the individual may pose.
The court may impose any requirement referred to in subsection (3) subject to any conditions or restrictions that the court thinks appropriate.
If the court makes a medical examination order under this section, any medical examination an individual is directed to undergo must be—
- in accordance with current best practice in diagnosing the presence of, or immunity to, the infectious disease; and
- the least invasive type of examination that is necessary to establish whether the individual has, or is immune to, the infectious disease.
The medical examination order ceases to have effect when the medical examination has been completed and it has been established whether the individual has the infectious disease.
Notes
- Section 92ZH: inserted, on , by section 11 of the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 35).