Australia’s most notorious serial killer, Ivan Milat ,has been transferred from NSW’s Goulburn Supermax Jail, where he is serving seven life sentences, to a Sydney public hospital for medical treatment.

The 74-year-old is expected to remain in a secure annex at the Prince of Wales Hospital in eastern Sydney while he undergoes diagnostic procedures. His condition is reportedly stable.

Milat, who was sentenced in 1996 for killing seven young backpackers, is set to return to the maximum security prison in the coming days. 

A source close to Ivan Milat’s family told the ABC the 74-year-old has undertaken a series of hunger strikes in prison over the past decade, resulting in extreme weight loss.

The ABC reports Milat has recently lost 20 kilograms and is currently being assessed for possible organ failure linked to geriatric anorexia.

Inmates are searched before they leave prison and when they return, a Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said.

High-risk and terrorism-related inmates are always guarded by specialist staff from the Extreme High-Security Escort Unit who control all movements and interactions.

“Extensive security planning and assessment is undertaken before such movements occur,” the spokeswoman said. 

At least one form of restraint, handcuffs or ankle cuffs, stay on high-risk inmates during medical treatment, subject to medical requirements.

Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin told Seven Network the community can rest assured transfers are done in the “most secure and safe way possible”.

Milat is being held in a secure annex of the hospital where inmates are treated. Photo: ABC

Milat dumped the bodies of the seven murdered backpackers in makeshift graves in NSW’s Belanglo State Forest in the 1990s. 

The former road worker also kidnapped British tourist Paul Onions but he managed to escape from Milat’s vehicle.

Milat has previously needed hospital treatment while in prison.

In 2009, he cut off his pinky finger with a plastic knife, supposedly with the intention of posting it to the High Court. He was transferred, under high-security, to Golburn Hospital, where doctors determined the finger could not be surgically reattached.

In 2001, Milat had also injured himself swallowing metal objects, including razors and staples.

In 2011, in a dramatic attempt to be given a PlayStation, the murderer lost 25 kilos on a hunger strike.

-with AAP