$500m boost for health
Medical students could be pulled in to help on the front line if there is a widespread outbreak of coronavirus in New Zealand.
National secretary of the New Zealand Resident Doctors Association, Dr Deborah Powell, said there had been discussions about giving students in their final year limited registration.
The students would be heavily supervised, and the students would not be thrown into the deep end.
Yesterday the Government announced an extra half-a-billion dollars will be spent on the health system, part of a larger $12.1 billion funding package to combat the effects of coronavirus.
The plan includes $30 million dedicated to strengthening the health workforce, although unions are questioning where extra personal will come from.
Powell said New Zealand could actually lose residents, as there is a high dependence on graduates from the UK.
Some will want to return home as a result of the pandemic, and there is no guarantee they could be replaced.
She said it is likely elective surgeries will be cancelled, and those theatres could be used as ICU wards if needed.
Bringing recently retired doctors and nurses back into the workforce has also been mooted as a way of handling a pandemic.
Executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Sarah Dalton said retired doctors cannot be made to work, and she is not sure how many are available.
‘‘One of the higher risk groups for Covid-19 is older people, so I am not sure that asking retired people to put themselves on the front line is a great idea.’’
She welcomed the funding, however, saying it was great to see extra resources for public health services.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson yesterday said the focus of the health spending was to ‘‘strengthen our ability to treat, test and trace cases’’.
Health Minister David Clark said public health units were the first line of response against the virus but did not have the resources to handle a pandemic.
The increase of spending would nearly double the capacity of these units, he said.
‘‘We now know we will see more Covid-19 cases arrive here. So we must plan and prepare for that reality.’’
Clark hinted that further funding would be freed up if needed for health services.
‘‘Financial resources will not be a constraint.’’
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern first announced the funding on Monday, calling it this Government’s biggest spending package to date.
She warned the impact of the virus could be worse than the global financial crisis, which saw the economy shrink by 3.3 per cent over five continuous quarters.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said additional ICU beds could come from the private sector and a limited number of beds in the public sector can be converted. ‘‘This would also include additional training and support for a cohort of nurses to provide the higher level of care.’’
‘‘Financial resources will not be a constraint.’’
Health Minister David Clark, pictured.