Medical exam gift for workers

Ni-Vanuatu who work on seasonal jobs in New Zealand orchards and market gardens will no longer have to travel a long distance for a medical exam, thanks to the Kiwifruit Industry Community Support Fund.

The fund has raised $50,000 so that workers from Vanuatu living on or near the northern island of Espiritu Santo can have the exam, rather than travel to the capital Port Vila.

Key to the exam is a digitiser which enables X-rays to be available in an electronic format that can be submitted to Immigration New Zealand.

About 3500 Ni-Vanuatu come to New Zealand each year under the Recognised Seasonal Employer programme (RSE), many of them working on the kiwifruit harvest, but also in orchards, vineyards and market gardens.

As part of their visa application, RSE workers must undergo an immigration medical exam in Port Vila to be able to come to New Zealand.

Alister McKenzie, the Marlborough operations manager of Seasonal Solutions, said the new technology would be a boon to islanders in the northern part of the country. Of the 1200 workers his company employs, at least half of them came from that region. ‘‘At the moment it’s a real mission for them, and a costly one. They can’t afford the plane, so they have to take a boat from an island to Santo, and then another to Port Vila.’’

The Kiwifruit Industry Community Support Fund is a charitable incorporated society with the objective to support causes associated with the kiwifruit industry. About 10,500 RSE scheme workers come to New Zealand each year from the Pacific in a programme that has been going for 10 years, making up a shortfall in local workers.