MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,
WEDNESDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2003

“South Canterbury DHB Should Pay Up If Health Minister Correct”

“The South Canterbury District Health Board should listen to the Minister of Health and be prepared to pay reasonable compensation for its senior doctors who are forced to work on onerous and dangerous after-hours emergency roster,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.

“Health Minister Annette King said today in Parliament that the South Canterbury DHB was not under-funded and that the DHB chief executive shared this view.”

“If she is correct then South Canterbury management has no excuse not to pay reasonable compensation to senior doctors for working on after-hours emergency services. The amount of money required to do this is a small fraction of the DHB’s total funding.”

“Management can’t argue that it can’t afford to pay a small amount of additional compensation to its hard-working senior doctors working in stressful conditions and at the same time, along with the Health Minister, deny that it is under-funded without losing credibility,” concluded Mr Powell.

Ian Powell
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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