Alexander (Sandy) Milne

Thank you for running my letter on our October local body elections, in which I made it clear that if elected to council I would use my position as a platform to emphasise the folly of centralising diagnostic microbiology services in a private lab in distant Tauranga.  That is not acceptable practice, let alone best practice, which is what we need when dealing with dangerous bugs.

This week, I am reconnecting with NZ First’s Winston Peters who was very supportive during a lengthy meeting in late 2024, which the Beacon covered at the time.  

I am also attempting to arrange a meeting in Whakatāne or Wellington with health spokespersons from other political parties.  

I would invite Mayor Victor Luca to chair, if we can persuade them to visit Whakatāne.

Several people have asked me why I have persisted in this campaign for 15 years; one person asked me if I had not heard of the definition of insanity as, “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”.

That definition is incorrect if the whistle-blower is sane and dead right.  

In my battles to be heard in our hepatitis B campaigns, the secret of success was in reaching the right ears, which included those of Sir Paul Reeves, who I invited to be the patron of the Whakatāne-based Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand.  

Another Māori leader, who was pivotal in our eventual success, was the late Professor Eru Pomare, a top gastroenterologist from Wellington who became a board member at the foundation chaired for many years by local lawyer Robert Chappell.

Whakatāne remains a Government-funded New Zealand-wide centre of excellence in monitoring and managing viral hepatitis carriers, and I take this opportunity to remind parents that new hepatitis B infections are almost a thing of the past because parents took advantage of a proven safe and effective vaccine. Let’s continue protecting our children. I would welcome suggestions from readers on how to catch the eyes and ears of respected locals who could emulate the efforts of past supporters.  

We need them for the even more important battle of regaining a fit-for-purpose diagnostic microbiology service in the Eastern Bay and similar communities in New Zealand.