Alexander (Sandy) Milne

I am an active health worker in Whakatāne, and an avid reader of Beacon letters. It took me only six seconds to read the four-liner from Vivian Young in Wednesday’s paper on the National government’s tax breaks for the wealthy and cuts in wages for our lowest paid workers.  

Vivian ended with, “Sounds like Trump. Appalling”.  

I make another plea to readers, beware the stealthy and unhealthy Americanisation of New Zealand.

Last week, our Minister of Health Simeon Brown announced a policy of increased privatisation in our health services.

He is not a doctor of medicine, or former nurse or clinical lab scientist, and at 34 years old, lacks the experience or judgment to hold such an important post.  

It is surely now common knowledge that privatisation of health services has been a disaster for less wealthy residents in many countries, especially in the US, where health spending per capita is the greatest overall, but services for poor residents are among the worst.

I urge readers to support our mayor, and the experts he recruited for the recent council Zoom conference on the meltdown in our health services.

That meeting was a great kick-start in Whakatāne’s effort to help lead the way in healthcare.

To a related issue, public health doctors are worried the Government is trying to suppress their expertise – raising alarm about what they’re describing as “overreach”.  

That follows Mr Brown’s edict that Medical Officers of Health (MoHs) are now barred from commenting on local health issues, such as problems with fast-food outlets.  

That order should be reversed, pronto. MoHs have legal obligations to analyse how issues such as alcohol policy will impact health in their regions.

These MoHs are trained doctors who have specialised in public health. They should stand up to Mr Brown.  

Doctors spoke on condition of anonymity to raise their concerns after a meeting earlier that day with the National Public Health Service director, Dr Nick Chamberlain, who told those doctors that any advice they wanted to offer about issues in their regions needed sign off at a “national level”.  Is Big Brother (book, 1984) now watching them?

Doctors said his comments, as well as other comments from Mr Brown, and cuts to public health teams, were having a “chilling effect”.

It is time for Eastern Bay doctors to submit a letter on issues such as this.  They have been silent for far too long.