1 week Ago By Adam Pearse
Young Māori and Pasifika in Hawke’s Bay are no longer eligible on the basis of their ethnicity to receive some free healthcare services after the Health Minister intervened and demanded the policy be changed. In August, Health New Zealand’s regional arm, OurHealth Hawke’s Bay, posted to its website about Health NZ’s efforts to refine the criteria used to fund additional free GP and registered nurse healthcare services in the region for young people aged 14-24 years. The initial post said the eligibility criteria included anyone in that age group who was Māori or Pasifika.
It also included those who held a community services card, lived in the most deprived areas or were diagnosed with one of several long-term conditions such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Act last week expressed concern about the policy with party health spokesman Todd Stephenson saying “targeting services based on race is lazy and divisive”. “The change in government should have sent a clear message to our bureaucracies that New Zealanders are sick and tired of race being put at the centre of everything,” he said.
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