Dr Art Nahill, Dr Glenn Colquhoun

Residents of the Whakatāne area are suffering the fallout from years of governmental neglect of our public healthcare system.

You may be understandably angry because you cannot see your GP or access a number of other essential health services.

We are doctors with 50 years of combined service in the public health system and we have never seen things so bad. We are angry too.

In a second-hand “vanbulance” painted by renowned NZ artist Nigel Brown as a symbol of protest and hope, we will be driving from the Far North down to Wellington holding public meetings along the way.

We’ve called this journey Hīkoi for Health: A People’s Inquiry into healthcare reform.

We want people to know that the health system can be changed so that it works for everyone and that you are an important part of making those changes happen.

We want to hear your hopes and ideas for an equitable, more responsive, and better public health system and carry them with us to Parliament.

We will be in Whakatāne on April 30 at Knox Presbyterian Church on Domain Road from 5pm-7pm.

Please come and share your wisdom. Visit us on healthreformnz.org for more information.