Health Minister Andrew Little made the shocking admission
today that extra ICU beds won’t be ready until June next
year, National Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti
says.
“After spending the last year claiming
everything was fine, the Government finally accepted the
obvious last week and announced funding for new ICU
beds.
“But today during Parliamentary Question Time,
Health Minister Andrew Little admitted the much needed ICU
beds won’t be ready until June next year.
“By that
point we will be 27 months into a global
pandemic.
“The Government has wasted the best part
of two years pretending this wasn’t an issue and has now
lost valuable time in building our Covid defences, putting
the health of New Zealanders at risk.
“The
Government’s failure to invest in ICU beds appears to be
one of the reasons why Auckland is still stuck at the Red
Traffic Light setting, despite being one of the most
vaccinated cities in the world.
“New Zealanders
deserve better and National will continue to hold this
Government to account for its woeful lack of
delivery.”
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