Labor’s candidate for the key electorate of Higgins in Melbourne has apologised after making a post suggesting the Prime Minister could be responsible for the suicide of a Sydney doctor because of his management of the pandemic and health system.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah, an infectious diseases expert, said on Twitter of the doctor’s death: “you can’t rule in or out the impact of working in an overwhelmed hospital system.”

She said the state of the hospital system was the fault of Scott Morrison and his government, because of what Labor says are failures to deploy coronavirus vaccines fast enough, create a leak-free quarantine system, and aid healthcare workers sufficiently.

But on Saturday evening Dr Ananda-Rajah removed the tweet. “I regret and apologise for any hurt caused which was motivated by the exhaustion and frustration that I, like so many of my healthcare colleagues, feel in this difficult time,” Dr Ananda-Rajah said.

She reiterated her criticism of federal healthcare funding and said she would keep advocating for healthcare workers.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Greg Hunt said the comments politicised a highly sensitive mental health issue and pointed to Dr Ananda-Rajah’s critical remarks earlier this year about the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“These would be troubling from any health professionals but even more so from someone seeking office,” Mr Hunt’s spokeswoman said. “The ALP may wish to reconsider whether this person is an appropriate and credible representative for them.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on behalf of the Opposition Leader or Dr Ananda-Rajah.

After a slow start, Australia is now pushing towards a 90 per cent vaccination rate and some states are trialling home quarantine but the Commonwealth is locked in a dispute with the states over health funding.