‘Publicity stunt’ at superclinic
DUNEDIN Hospital urologist Kampta Samalia has accused his bosses of mounting a publicity stunt.
In a letter to the Otago Daily Times, Mr Samalia criticised the handling of the urology superclinic at the weekend.
Organised after lifethreatening delays were revealed, the Southern District Health Board was keen for the superclinic to be covered by the ODT as a goodnews story.
Staff lined up for a photo outside the hospital and commissioner Kathy Grant and deputy commissioner Richard Thomson directed patients.
‘‘The publicity with pictures, and the commissioners directing the patients to clinic, is a publicity stunt.
‘‘My only hope is that the urology service will never be put in this position again affecting the people of Otago,’’ Mr Samalia wrote.
When contacted, he said he was frustrated health bosses did nothing about the problem in June 2016 when a comprehensive review was brought to their attention.
Chief executive Chris Fleming has said it predated his time at the board, and commissioner Kathy Grant has said it was not brought to her attention.
Mr Samalia said it was unacceptable for senior executives to leave and not be accountable.
‘‘You knew this problem; you knew you had failed the patients.’’
He was scathing about the presence of Mrs Grant and Mr Thomson at the superclinic.
‘‘There was a lot of genuine people who came and helped. Some worked on normal salary, some got paid a little bit more, and some got paid a lot.
‘‘This wasn’t a free jaunt.’’
Mr Samalia said a fourth urologist for Dunedin Hospital was promised years ago, but the money was reallocated to hire a urologist at Southland Hospital.
‘‘Since then we have been crying that we are short, short, short, and nobody listened.
‘‘I’m very pleased that the patients got dealt with [at the superclinic] and what I don’t want is this thing repeated.’’
Mr Samalia did not take part in the superclinic but was oncall.
By far the longestserving Dunedin urologist, Mr Samalia has largely been silent until now on the treatment crisis.
He gained two muchneeded specialist colleagues in 2014 after several years as the sole urologist. Significant tensions between urologists and management were highlighted in a review this year.
On Sunday, urologist Dr Al Hepburn was more positive than his colleague, but took a swipe at his bosses for not addressing the problem sooner.
A health board spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr Samalia’s letter.