Qatar expresses ‘regret’ after women from 10 flights taken for medical examinations at Doha airport

Qatar expresses ‘regret’ after women from 10 flights taken for medical examinations at Doha airport

At least 18 Australian women from a Qatar Airways flight were subjected to medical examinations at Doha airport, and a total of 10 flights were affected, the foreign minister has said.

The women were subject to an intimate medical examination at Doha international airport on 2 October, in what the airport said was an effort to find the mother of a newborn baby found in a bathroom.

Marise Payne told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday that 10 flights leaving Hamad international airport in Doha had been caught up in the search.

Eighteen women were on the Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Sydney which has been highlighted in media reports this week. Payne said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not become aware of the number of other flights affected