Auckland surgeons must now consider ethnicity in prioritising patients

Auckland surgeons must now consider ethnicity in prioritising patients(nzherald.co.nz)

9 points by hellrich 2 years ago | 5 comments

xupybd 2 years ago |

That's very racist.

Quinzel 2 years ago | |

On the face of it yes, but there are problems of systemic racism towards Māori and Pacific people in New Zealand that have lead to them having poor health outcomes in the first place. This seems a crude way to try and address the issue. A simple solution to a wicked problem. This won’t fix the wicked problem.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem

cmcaleer 2 years ago | | |

> A document on the equity adjustor which was leaked to Newstalk ZB shows two Māori patients, both aged 62 and who have been waiting more than a year, ranked above others on the list. A 36-year-old Middle Eastern patient who has been waiting almost two years has a much lower priority ranking.

If true, and there’s not make other factors at play here (like QoL) this is utterly indefensible and disgusting. Racism is not the solution to historic racism. I can’t believe I have to say this but there are ways to improve health outcomes for a group without resorting to racism.

xupybd 2 years ago | | |

You're not wrong it's an incredibly hard problem.

It feels so wrong to me that ethnicity can be a factor in healthcare like this. I work with a few refugees. They work on a production line. Poor English and no education means they won't go much further than min wage. They won't get the same priority for healthcare because they're from Asian descent and I can't see the justice in that. Sure I can afford health insurance but there is no way they can.