The Pharmacy Council NZ is the Government - appointed regulatory body to oversee pharmacy practice in New Zealand – their Linkedin page says “We protect the health, safety and wellbeing of the public by ensuring pharmacists are competent and fit to practice”.
Unfortunately the Pharmacy Council NZ has gone all woke and racist and apparently now thinks that practicing safe, competent dispensing of medicine and advice depends on a deep knowledge of 27 different aspects of Maori customs, beliefs, traditions, practices, superstitions, intergenerational historical trauma, familiarity with mana whenua and kaumatua, the Treaty of Waitangi, structural racism and colonisation and many other alleged Maori-related issues – such is the depth of knowledge required by pharmacists of Maori culture, beliefs and Te Reo etc. etc., that it would seem that every pharmacist who achieves all these competencies that are totally, completely, categorically, undeniably and irrefutably unrelated to safe dispensing of medicines will have earned a Bachelor’s degree in Maori Studies!
This is racism on steroids, the woke, totally unnecessary, unwarranted imposition of irrelevant culture and beliefs on a professional group whose sole focus should be on the safe practice of pharmaceutical medicine!
The Minister of Health needs to stamp down immediately on this repugnant, racist, woke over-reach by the Pharmacy Council and weed out any of the incompetent and/or radical members of the Pharmacy Council!
Following is the list (from page 31) of the essential competency standards for all pharmacists, according to the Pharmacy Council:-
● being familiar with mana whenua (local hapū/iwi), mātāwaka (kinship group not mana whenua), hapū and iwi in your rohe (district) and their history,
● understanding the importance of kaumātua,
● being familiar with te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nū Tīreni,
● advocating for giving effect to te Tiriti at all levels,
● understanding the intergenerational impact of historical trauma,
● understanding of the role of structural racism and colonisation and ongoing impacts on Māori, socioeconomic deprivation, restricted access to the determinants of health,
● being familiar with Māori health - leaders, history, and contemporary literature,
● being familiar with Māori aspirations in relation to health,
● developing authentic relationships with Māori organisations and health providers,
● having a positive collegial relationship with Māori colleagues in your profession/workplace,
● being proficient in building and maintaining mutually beneficial power-sharing relationships,
● tautoko (support) Māori leadership,
● prioritising Māori voices,
● trusting Māori intelligence,
● be clinically and culturally confident to work with Māori whānau,
● understand one’s own whakapapa (genealogy and connections),
● have a basic/intermediate understanding of te reo Māori,
● have a basic/intermediate understanding of the tikanga and the application of tapu (sacred) and noa (made ordinary),
● be familiar with Māori health models and concepts such as Te Pae Mahutonga9 and Te Ara Tika10,
● have a basic/intermediate understanding of marae (community meeting house) protocol,
● be confident to perform waiata tautoko (support song),
● be proficient in whakawhānaungatanga (active relationship building), ● integrate tika (correct), pono (truth), aroha and manaakitanga into practice,
● be open-hearted,
● be proficient in strengths-based practice,
● be proficient with equity analysis,
● practice cultural humility,
● critically monitor the effectiveness of own practice with Māori.
Source:
https://pharmacycouncil.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Competence-Standards-for-Aotearoa-New-Zealand-Pharmacists.pdf
Brian Kennedy retired 10 years ago after a long career in the pharmaceutical industry. He is a passionate believer in democracy and is very concerned about the erosion of Democracy in New Zealand and the imposition of minority culture, beliefs, values and superstitions on the vast majority of New Zealanders who see no relevance in it.
This is racism on steroids, the woke, totally unnecessary, unwarranted imposition of irrelevant culture and beliefs on a professional group whose sole focus should be on the safe practice of pharmaceutical medicine!
The Minister of Health needs to stamp down immediately on this repugnant, racist, woke over-reach by the Pharmacy Council and weed out any of the incompetent and/or radical members of the Pharmacy Council!
Following is the list (from page 31) of the essential competency standards for all pharmacists, according to the Pharmacy Council:-
● being familiar with mana whenua (local hapū/iwi), mātāwaka (kinship group not mana whenua), hapū and iwi in your rohe (district) and their history,
● understanding the importance of kaumātua,
● being familiar with te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nū Tīreni,
● advocating for giving effect to te Tiriti at all levels,
● understanding the intergenerational impact of historical trauma,
● understanding of the role of structural racism and colonisation and ongoing impacts on Māori, socioeconomic deprivation, restricted access to the determinants of health,
● being familiar with Māori health - leaders, history, and contemporary literature,
● being familiar with Māori aspirations in relation to health,
● developing authentic relationships with Māori organisations and health providers,
● having a positive collegial relationship with Māori colleagues in your profession/workplace,
● being proficient in building and maintaining mutually beneficial power-sharing relationships,
● tautoko (support) Māori leadership,
● prioritising Māori voices,
● trusting Māori intelligence,
● be clinically and culturally confident to work with Māori whānau,
● understand one’s own whakapapa (genealogy and connections),
● have a basic/intermediate understanding of te reo Māori,
● have a basic/intermediate understanding of the tikanga and the application of tapu (sacred) and noa (made ordinary),
● be familiar with Māori health models and concepts such as Te Pae Mahutonga9 and Te Ara Tika10,
● have a basic/intermediate understanding of marae (community meeting house) protocol,
● be confident to perform waiata tautoko (support song),
● be proficient in whakawhānaungatanga (active relationship building), ● integrate tika (correct), pono (truth), aroha and manaakitanga into practice,
● be open-hearted,
● be proficient in strengths-based practice,
● be proficient with equity analysis,
● practice cultural humility,
● critically monitor the effectiveness of own practice with Māori.
Source:
https://pharmacycouncil.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Competence-Standards-for-Aotearoa-New-Zealand-Pharmacists.pdf
Brian Kennedy retired 10 years ago after a long career in the pharmaceutical industry. He is a passionate believer in democracy and is very concerned about the erosion of Democracy in New Zealand and the imposition of minority culture, beliefs, values and superstitions on the vast majority of New Zealanders who see no relevance in it.
18 comments:
No question about it, the perpetrators of this need to be dealt with summarily by the Minister, the sacking must be immediate to serve as a lesson to all who are considering anything similar. If this does not happen, it will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that our National party cohort within the coalition are 100% behind the march of He Puapua.
Wow, just when you thought the real estate wallys had dredged the bottom the pharmacy council have found a deeper well. You can guarantee someone got paid a significant amount of money to pull that irrelevant (and slightly irrational) rubbish together.......
Meassage for the Pharmacy Council - Foxtrot Oscar!
Will the pharmacy council be putting together a competence standard for the other 160+ ethnic groups as well.....seems only fair given they've made such a big deal about just one.
This is just going to ensure that pharmacists are the next group of qualified health care professionals that will leave nz for Oz/uk anywhere else but New Zimbabwe!
But already there is no doubt - National is fully and formally behind He Puapua. The 2023 election was contested on false premises. National lied to its supporters.
I practice pharmacy in Northland, tending to the medicine and health related needs of our local population. There is plenty of competition, so if my practice wasn’t meeting the needs of my patients they would go somewhere else. This is how I know I am meeting their needs.
Ethnicity is only relevant if there is a genetic component to the medical condition or one’s ability to metabolise a medicine, and even then one has to have undergone pharmacogenetic testing in order to determine that. Otherwise it matters not.
My belief is that patients want to be treated kindly and politely, they want their medicines provided accurately with clear instructions and guidance, they want to know that this medicine is not going to interact with that one, they want reassurance that the dose prescribed is appropriate for them, and they want someone on their side in a health system within which they do not entirely feel at home.
It’s that simple.
Well said, Brian. An excellent article.
As a recently retired pharmacist myself (50+ years) I find this outrageously woke, unnecessary and inappropriate.
As anon mentioned above, I can foresee an exodus of pharmacists from NZ to Australia or other occupations.
Following on from above, here is a true example of when genetics matter in medicine:
Allopurinol has been reported as a common cause of severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs). Recent studies in various populations suggest that HLA‐B*58:01 is a strong genetic marker for allopurinol‐induced SCAR, especially in populations with a high frequency of HLA‐B*58:01.
This allele can be tested for, and while not universal in any ethnic group is more prevalent in Han Chinese.
Meet the members of the Council here:
https://pharmacycouncil.org.nz/public/council-members/
Ethnically rather skewed? 2/8 are senior members of the Maori Phamacists Association, 2 Chinese, 2 Middle Eastern (?), 1 Samoan ... and 1 New Zealand European.
Who actually appoints members of the Council? Well, five of the eight were appointed or reappointed in November 2021 (remember that time?) while the other three were already member at that time. Members are appointed for 2 or 3-year terms, and can be reappointed.
Reappointments should have been made in November 2024, i.e. every three years, by the Minister of Health. However I can find no evidence this happened.
Exactly, anon.
My own opinion, shared by many many of my work colleagues is to treat all customers/patients as individuals and assess their level of understanding based upon that person.
We do NOT look out from the dispensary and say "Oh - that patient is part Maori. Therefore I will explain their medication to them differently than if they were European or Chinese or whatever."
Anon@3.17 summed it up nicely. What else do they need to know other than their Council is unfit for the task and should be sacked? Oh, and Foxtrot Oscar, indeed!
What absolute garbage! If Luxon and co don’t immediately get this revoked, they deserve to be ousted at the next election -if not before. I for one most certainly don’t want to make life more difficult for our health professionals, or any other profession, to appease a minority ethnic group regardless that Māori believe they are superior and their lives will be enriched by such tripe.
No they won't. If you are part of that 160+, you are sh*t out of luck.
Sounds like a good way to speed up pharmacists decision to move elsewhere. We are short over 1000 teachers. All our engineers are leaving. All our nurses are leaving. I doubt its just because the pay here is crap. If I was a pharmacist I would be quitting immediately. I agree with the first Anon. This needs to be dealt with immediately. This makes me furious. Please keep us updated.
This must be the same group of chemistry wizards that approved the application of whale oil to Kauri trees ?
Surely there can't be two bodies of people with supposedly well above intelligence who have fallen for the Treaty Trick and gone to the Dark Side ?
I shall have to ask my local pharmacist for thd recommended treatment for my kumara ?
Luxon - get in control of this absolute bullshit.
!
Frankly, this just ludicrous.
NZ looks crazy from an international perspective.
The big problem is that Luxon will not allow any discussion, and even has a condition on any of his radio interviews that he will not be ambushed with any Maori questions.
If he will not talk about the biggest issue in NZ since WW2, then he should resign and let someone competent deal with it.
This can not go on without a radical reaction by someone, somewhere.
Who you gonna call "Race Busters"
It is so absurd it has to be a try on. Seems someone has at last decided to call out the nonsense. Either that or maori have again been wildly successful in infiltration. The Middle Eastern and Chinese members and the Pacific Islander are probably bamboozled and just looking for a quiet life. For fear of cancellation probably the European ditto. What is needed is an understanding of the tendency of maori not to trouble to pick up prescriptions, use as directed, or pay for where required (The latter is where the open heart bit comes in). Who cares who or what the kaumatua is. (unless a gang member) or his private function. How many random local maori know? How many maori know the local mana whenua structure which the artful have contrived to have officially recognised? (In Auckland it has been granted to remnants of every tribe that skulked in and was eaten out of the area in the last several hundred years) Still we pour millions into Insurgency Coordination Centres to facilitate the scheming interaction which leads to these outcomes. My pharmacist knows me only as a scruffy brisk but polite oldie. He treats me civilly and efficiently. Perhaps I should make known that I am an occasional critical commentator on a blogsite. I might then get some fawning attention and feigned chit chat as well. And hopefully waived bills and spring koha for any coordination/bonding function my social group may contrive.
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