Medical Students Have To Be Taught How to Stay and Work in New Zealand

"There are shortages of doctors, especially in primary care, and more medical graduates should help," said Professor Abbott. "However, they will need to receive a different sort of education that fosters the values, competencies and commitment to equip them to stay in New Zealand and make a positive difference at community level."

This statement was made by Professor Max Abbott, AUT University Dean of Health and Environmental Sciences and Deputy Chair of the country's largest district health board. He was commenting on a proposal to increase the number of medical students in New Zealand and on the workforce crisis in the health sector.

Healthcare areas with the worst shortages of staff are midwifery and dental services, both areas are need of urgent funding. There are shortages of doctors too, particularly in primary care. However, Auckland University of Technology is having to reduce some courses due to cut backs in funding, which come at a time when there are significant shortages of professional staff in some areas.

In May a report appeared on the Unison web site quoting Dr. Annette Huntington from Massey University's School of Health saying that New Zealand had reached “crisis levels” in the shortage of nursing staff, with many new graduates from NZ nursing programmes lured away by the promise of better pay in hospitals overseas.

45,000 registered nurses make up approximately 60 per cent of New Zealand’s health workforce.

Professor Abbot's solution is:

"We need to be much more flexible in our thinking about who does what in the health sector, especially in primary care. We need many more nurse practitioners and other health professionals who extend their expertise and scopes of practice. All health professionals need to learn to work more effectively in multidisciplinary teams and be more responsive to patients and communities."

Reasons for the shortages

Maurice Drake, head of Nursing at Unitec, says:

"There are a number of possible reasons for these shortages, including low pay, stressful working conditions and increasing media scrutiny of healthcare professionals"

Drake also notes the difficulty trained nurses who have been out of the workforce have in returning to nursing, especially those with children. “There needs to be more flexible ways of working....training more nurses is not the answer, due to a lack of clinical placements for students."

More
Boosting medical student numbers not the solution
NZ a global player in Nursing shortage
Crisis in Waitakere's after hours healthcare
In Unison: Nursing Shortage a Crisis

Pimping Kids in New Plymouth

A 58 year old New Plymouth man accused of pimping a 15 year old girl is continuing in his efforts to keep his name secret. If his identity became public he maintains it could seriously damage both his health and his business.

The accused has also been charged with contracting a girl aged under 18 for sex, receiving earnings from a girl aged under 18, operating a brothel without a licence, sexual connection with a girl aged between 12 and 16 and supplying drugs.

Police opposed the suppression order arguing that the accused's customers had a right to know about his activities.

It's a fine balance between protecting a person's right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty and protecting the public, accutely so when children are involved. It's hoped that the judge has got it right in this case when he stated that the name suppression should be limited

The case will be next presented in court at depositions hearing on 12 November

Link: Stuff, 3 Oct 2008

Councils Using Banned Endosulfan on Playing Fields

The Green Party has named and shamed 18 councils in New Zealand that spray Endosulfan on playing fields. The list includes

6 City Councils

• Dunedin
• Hamilton
• Manukau
• Napier
• Nelson
• Wellington

12 District Councils

• Hauraki
• Manawatu
• Masterton
• Matamata
• Piako
• New Plymouth
• Palmerston North
• Rodney
• Rotorua
• Stratford
• Western Bay of Plenty
• Westland
• Whangarei.

The Greens health spokeswoman, Sue Kedgley said:

“To my knowledge New Zealand is the only country in the world that sprays Endosulfan on sports fields. Endosulfan can remain in the soil for up to six years and any skin, mouth or hand contact with the soil could cause harm,”

Endosulfan is a highly toxic insecticide which affects people’s hormonal system, and is linked to breast cancer, endometriosis, male breast enlargement and delayed sexual maturity. It can cause birth defects, and is linked to epilepsy, autism, cerebral palsy, lowered IQ, and Parkinson’s disease.

“The councils are using Endosulfan to kill earthworms. Worm casts allegedly cause balls to bounce and reduce the effectiveness of drainage under playing fields,” Ms Kedgley says.

“But there is absolutely no need for children to be put at risk by the use of this toxic chemical, when the problem can be safely treated by simply altering the ph of the soil with acidifying fertilisers, and creating an environment the earthworms don’t like. It is completely unnecessary – Auckland City Council stopped using Endosulfan in the mid 1990s as a result of community pressure and they have managed without it for more than a decade.”

The Green Party is calling for an end to the use of Endosulfan in New Zealand as part of its toxics policy, released today."

Source: Greens.org.nz

Wikipedia description of Endosulfan

"A neurotoxic organochlorine insecticide of the cyclodiene family of pesticides. It is an endocrine disruptor, and it is highly acutely toxic. It is banned in the European Union, Cambodia, and several other countries, while its use is restricted in other countries, including the Philippines (where it will be banned after September 2008).

It is still used extensively in many countries including India, New Zealand and the United States.

It is made by Bayer CropScience, Makhteshim-Agan, and Hindustan Insecticides Limited among others, and sold under the tradenames Thionex, Thiodan, Phaser, and Benzoepin. Because of its high toxicity and high potential for bioaccumulation and environmental contamination, a global ban on the use and manufacture of endosulfan is being considered under the Stockholm Convention.........

Endosulfan is one of the more toxic pesticides on the market today, responsible for many fatal pesticide poisoning incidents around the world. Endosulfan is also a xenoestrogen—a synthetic substance that imitates or enhances the effect of estrogens—and it can act as an endocrine disruptor, causing reproductive and developmental damage in both animals and humans. Whether endosulfan can cause cancer is debated."

Symptoms of Endosulfin poisoning include

• Hypersensitivity to stimulation
• Sensation of prickling, tingling or creeping on skin.
• Headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, in-coordination, tremor, mental confusion, hyper- excitable state.
• In severe cases: convulsions, seizures, coma and respiratory depression.

Farm workers are often exposed to Endosulfan during the course of their work.

Air monitoring studies have been carried out that demonstrate that people living, working, and going to school near fields where it is used can be exposed by breathing contaminated air. Endosulfan can also be absorbed through the skin.

Other information:
Compensation for Endosulfan victims