Suzanne Williams

I, along with some 20-odd others, attended a public meeting held by Doctor Malcolm Mulholland, a Kiwibank Local Hero, cancer drug campaigner and the founder of Patient Voice Aotearoa, on the State of the Public Health System.  He is travelling the country on a speaking tour, carrying a petition for signature and presentation to Parliament.

I felt ashamed of the apathy on the subject showing itself in the low attendance by the citizens of our town, most of  whom profess to be really upset and worried by the shortcomings of the system and removal of hospital services –  then I thought that there was really short notice, it was not well advertised and you can't be there if you don't know it's on, can you?  Whakatāne can be over-casual, sometimes.

However, it was an interesting and lively meeting.  Among others, we heard several tragic case histories;  some of them almost unbelievable, on misdiagnoses by overworked, tired medical staff;  we heard the story of Malcolm's own wife, who, being unable to obtain an unfunded new cancer drug suggested as a probable help in her particular case, succumbed a short time ago;  his heart-felt advocacy for more funding for rare drugs through Pharmac was telling.

We heard from two young mothers, student nurses, who told us of their negative experiences of trying to find jobs, in the face of lack of experienced staff to mentor them; then a New Zealand Nurses Organisation advocate strongly backed up their position.

We heard from a young Indian man who represented a 500-strong group of qualified medical immigrants who are greatly disillusioned by the difficulties faced of finding jobs in the medical field, in what they were told was the land of promise, which needed them.

With 35 percent of Kiwis already paying health insurance, in our country of  supposedly free health, since the 1930s' Great Depression led to the passing of the Social Security Act by the Labour Government and the reputation of New Zealand as "the laboratory of the world"  (which we are once again, I guess, but not in a good way!),  how can we hold our heads up as better than the United States in the field of health?

The petition, in the form of an impressively large scroll, will be at the library for a short time this week and may be signed there.  Please "put your money where your mouth is", and sign for better funding for health services.