Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour has welcomed the increased availability of medicines for Kiwis resulting from the Government’s increased investment in Pharmac.
“Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the Government,” says Mr Seymour.
“When our Government assumed office, New Zealanders were facing an uncertain future for medicine access. Pharmac had a $1.7 billion funding hole and had no new money to increase access for medicines.
“It was a priority for this Government to fix that. We’ve allocated Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, so that it can get on and do its job – negotiating the best deals for medicine for New Zealanders.
“As of 28 August 2024, Pharmac has consulted on funding for 24 treatments – 13 for cancer and 11 for other conditions. . . .
This is a start, and a welcome one, on bridging the gap between treatment, and therefore both quality and length of life, for people with cancer and other diseases in New Zealand and other first world countries like Australia, Canada, the UK and USA.
Continuing to bridge the gap will be very expensive which is why the government’s focus on getting the economy back on track is so important.
It is only with a stronger economy, and much better productivity, that patients here will be able to have better treatments and outcomes.
Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
Yeah, let’s throw more money at the Rockefeller founded pharmaceutical industrial complex for “health and wellbeing”, where your health relies on very unnatural petroleum-based drugs concocted in laboratories.
It is just such a mystery why sickness and disease keep getting worst and not better?
More money will fix the problem eh.
Anonymous 12.01 says "sickness and disease keep getting worst (sic) and not better". Says who? Where's the data? Have s/he considered the millions of sick people who are actually cured by modern pharmacology. Or the millions of lives saved by vaccines. Or life expectancies increased by modern medicine and medical care. Of course not. This is the healthiest epoch in human history, and getting better every year. But I bet s/he would prefer to rely on his/her immune system to protect them. You know, like the folk who used to die from anthrax and cholera and smallpox and typhoid and polio and bubonic plague and even the Spanish flu. The list is endless. The narrative on offer is not just wrong, it's dangerously wrong, and that's not just my opinion - there's overwhelming evidence to prove it if s/he could be bothered to look.
It'd be an even better start, Ele, if they removed the GST (or provided an equivalent subsidy) on the ones they don't fund. Talk about an inappropriate and completely inequitous tax, but that's our politicians for you.
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