NZ Deserves First Class Health Treatment

New Zealanders Deserve First Class Health Treatment

“New Zealanders deserve first class health treatment not third world” says Arthritis New Zealand after New Zealand came last in a comparison of 14 developed nations on their use of selected medicines.

The study showed New Zealand was far below Australia in the tallied medicine use for rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the second most common form of arthritis, and there is approximately 40,000 New Zealanders suffering from this unpredictable disease. It can occur at any age and it affects women three times more often than men.

Sandra Kirby, Chief Executive of Arthritis New Zealand said: ”Coming last in this study should be the wake-up call the Government needs to start investing in more medicines being made available within New Zealand to treat debilitating diseases like arthritis.”

“We can’t continue to use excuses like the size of our country to not invest for example in a second biologic option for arthritis sufferers. Is it not creating a false economy if we save on the cost of employing Rheumatologists and medicines but in return have a sicker population that end up using more health and welfare resources creating a bigger burden to our economy?”

“Over 25,000 New Zealanders will not work in 2010 due to arthritis costing around $1.48 billion in lost productivity in 2010. By investing in more health services we could cut this cost dramatically.”

ENDS