Operations For All
Friday, 5 December 2003, 12:08 am
Press Release: New Zealand First Party
Media Release
5 December 2003
Operations For
All
New Zealand First is urging the Labour government to
drop its bizarre scheme that would see beneficiaries receive
state funded private hospital treatment whilst the rest of
the country queue up at under resourced public
hospitals.
“Of course beneficiaries should receive timely
operations and be given an early opportunity to return to
the workforce but the same ‘cost’ arguments can be applied
to the rest of the population. Priority for health care
must be based on medical need and clinical factors and not
according to socio-economic factors such as whether or not
one is a beneficiary,” said New Zealand First leader Rt Hon
Winston Peters.
“Waiting lists should be shortened as a
result of patients being given operations and treatment
rather than just being sent back to their GPs.
“If there
is extra capacity available at our private hospitals then
the public system should utilise that to the benefit of all
New Zealanders, beneficiaries or not.
“This is one more
example of a government without vision grasping at straws to
cover its ineptitude and its failure to deliver adequate
health services,” said Mr Peters.
ENDS
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