Sunday, 20 April 2008

Doctors' Strike... Again!

When will these strikes end? There have been more in 1 year alone than I can count. The most recent example is the Junior Doctors' Strike, taking place this week.

I'm not a unionist, but for this time I have to ask: who can blame them? The New Zealand public hospital system is in a wreck -there's no flexibility, work hours are very long, and wages are low compared to other countries. If you're a top doctor in this country, you either enter the private sector, as Wellington's top heart surgeon did last year, or you go overseas, usually across the ditch to Australia or further abroad, to the United States.

And it's this reality that sees NZ health services fall increasingly behind every year. Constantly, more and more money goes into these services, and constantly, the same results. The same socialist shoddy planning and negative results.

With a health system like ours, it's no wonder why so many people are off to Australia. At least people there have the good sense to go to the private health service for most things.

Oh yes, and Australians are paying their arms and feet for their private health care!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Callum, sorry to use this to get back to you but I've lost your private address. I received the story but couldn't really understand it. I wish whoever it was good luck with whatever it was they were hoping to do.

Best wishes, Duncan Fallowell

Callum said...

That's perfectly alright, I don't mind at all.

My private address (well, not that private) is callummcpetrie@yahoo.co.nz.