Dr John Burton
A King Country doctor says ACT Party leader and deputy prime minister David Seymour is asking the wrong questions about establishing a Waikato Medical School.
“David Seymour has stalled the development of a third medical school by asking for a business case,” said Dr John Burton of Kāwhia Health Centre.
Burton, 66, has served the coastal practice with 750 registered patients for 33 years and hopes to continue for a few more years.
“A third medical school will never make money. But it is needed to enable many currently disadvantaged communities to receive an equitable health service. The question should really be, can we afford not to have a third medical school?”
Seymour told a Waikato Chamber of Commerce business lunch at Sky City last week the National Party had not come close to proving the proposed University of Waikato medical school was a good use of taxpayers’ money.
National campaigned on the lead up to the last election of establishing a new medical school at the University of Waikato to address New Zealand’s doctor shortage.
Burton said there were not enough doctors in New Zealand and the medical needs of rural New Zealanders could be better met.
“A graduate-entry medical school gives students who have not come from prestigious urban medical schools the chance to prove that they have the skills to become doctors,” he said.
He said picking medical students who had a desire to work in rural areas was a first step.
Auckland Medical School provided tremendous training in the urban-based environment, but it did not have a good track record of producing rural GPs and Waikato Hospital was reluctant to let junior doctors work in rural practices, he argued.
“Emergency departments becoming choked with patients that used to be seen by GPs when GPs were more plentiful, and patients presenting with more advanced conditions because they have not had proper access to primary care may make them think more about this now,” he said.
Ōtorohanga District Council councillor for Kāwhia Kit Jeffries said, Seymour’s comments lacked vision and displayed a distinct lack of understanding on the fragility, importance and future of rural medical services.
