A seasoned New Zealand medical professional offers yet another stark confirmation of the dire state of our country’s public health system. From the frontline, it is hard to miss the rising numbers of sick staff, and even more sick patients. Coupled with chronic underfunding, workforce shortages and systemic inefficiences, these critical issues indicate that ‘Rome is burning’ yet our leadership appears indifferent to the crisis, brought on by their own Covid vaccine mandates.
Read: Specialist’s Truth Post on The State of Healthcare in New Zealand
Having worked in the New Zealand public and private hospital systems for 20 years, with 24 years practising as a medical specialist in theatres, I feel I am in a position to observe the decline in surgical services over this period.
This decline has seen a rapid acceleration in the last three years, and I fear for my patients if this current situation continues. There are many reasons for this decline and I will mention only a few, but these are the real world conditions I’m working in and hearing about from other colleagues in the New Zealand health system.
Everyone is aware we have a depleted medical workforce, but most seem to have forgotten the number of medical staff who were forced out during the Covid vaccine mandates. Many of them have never returned. The Ministry of Health claimed only a few staff were affected by the mandates, but they failed to include those who retired early, took long service leave or sabbatical leave to avoid the mandates. I know of a number of specialists who emigrated, and we cannot forget the ones whose previous faultless careers were ended by action taken by our regulatory bodies.
There is significant illness in the current workforce, which leads to cancellation of theatre lists, far more frequently now than I have observed in the past. Often staff are under stress, risking burnout, trying to fill in for colleagues who are away on sick leave. This is not only related to Covid infections but other respiratory illnesses, cardiac issues and recently diagnosed cancers.
I would also like to bring to the attention of the government some of the poor decisions made during the Covid pandemic that have led to worsening of the medical system crisis. At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the first red flag for me was that questions about the government narrative were not allowed to be asked. Medicine and science can often grow and flourish from crazy ideas from people who think outside the box. For example, Dr Archie Brain was ridiculed when he investigated a novel anaesthetic airway. His work led to the LMA (laryngeal mask airway) that revolutionised anaesthetic airway management.
Early on in the pandemic, up to 80 per cent of deaths in the US were correlated with a vitamin D deficiency, but this supplement was never considered. Correlation is not causation, but when you have a simple [potentially effective] remedy which is safe, backed by research showing its benefit in boosting the immune system, where was the harm in discussing this treatment option? Some countries, including Mexico, even posted vitamin D supplements out to households. Our government never entertained the idea and wouldn’t even allow discussion. In their view, there was one, and only one, option.
The original Pfizer trial which established the main scientific basis for enforcing mandates never looked at or showed any effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing infection or transmission of Covid. This lack of prevention and transmission of Covid in vaccinated individuals has now been recognised by the CDC, WHO, Pfizer and even Dr Fauci.
Without this protection being provided by the Covid vaccine, how could the government scientifically, morally, or ethically enforce a mandate? Vaccine mandates are based upon the idea that they will prevent infection and transmission of the disease they are given for.
New Zealand had closed its borders, effectively preventing most infections with the Alpha and Delta variants of Covid from entering the country. These variants were more dangerous than Omicron variant. This enabled our country to have a nearly six-month unique window to observe that mass vaccination of Western countries was failing in preventing infection and transmission of Covid.
I am aware of suicides and attempted suicides which have occurred directly due the enforced mandates in NZ. Lives were ruined. Careers were ruined. Homes and families were divided. Friends and colleagues lost. Our country was and still is divided.
My heart bleeds, and tears have flowed for the people who have suffered from these mandates based falsely on the pretence that we would be protected from catching and preventing transmission of Covid.
I understand that one of the outcomes of the Phase One RCI was that voices opposed to the narrative were not heard or explored. I am concerned the Phase Two RCI doesn’t appear to have any medical specialists or scientists as lead investigators. How can you expect lawyers and an ex-Health and Disability Commissioner to review the mountains of published peer reviewed medical literature that exists, without some medical expertise on the inquiry committee?
Currently of great concern to me is the explosion in the case numbers of cancers which are:
– often aggressive and don’t respond to routine treatment
– presenting initally in advanced stages and affecting multiple organs
– being diagnosed in much younger patients now than in the past
– return of cancers in patients who had been cancer free for years
During lockdowns, with the subsequent restrictions imposed on access to medical facilities, numerous cancer screening programs were put on hold. Are we now seeing the consequences of this with rising cancer numbers? But many patients are young, and not eligible for screening programmes except for cervical screening. Public Health authorities seem to be reluctant to acknowledge this. Our Ministry of Health appears to have chosen not to monitor new or emerging cancer trends. Why have cancer rates and statistics still not been released for recent years? Our cancer radiation centres are snowed under with workloads: patient numbers greatly exceeding the previous year while the staff numbers are lower than previously.
If I was able to address our leader, Mr Luxon, with one question (although I have many) it would be this: Why will you not apologise for the Covid vaccine mandates which forced many out of their careers, and start the slow but long necessary journey to get our divided country back to the one I loved and was previously very proud of?
Don’t wait nearly 50 years to apologise which is how long the Lake Alice victims and the women involved in Professor Green’s “Unfortunate Experiment” had to wait for an apology.
He waka eke noa. The previous Labour government campaigned on this slogan: “We are all in this together.” We are in the same waka and leave no one behind. It seems that many have been left behind, and the government appears not to care for those who have been left behind.
Unvaccinated medical staff have been hounded out of the public hospitals, general practices and other services, when we so desperately need all the medical staff we can get to stop our health system imploding. Apologise now and allow these staff to work again.
We must face this challenge with open eyes and acknowledge the problems we have. Investigate the issues and start to heal our country’s medical system before it is too late.
A concerned Medical Professional
New Zealand
This article was originally published by New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out With Science.
