Chch patients are dying, says heart-unit lobby

Press, 23 February 1978, Page 6

Chch patients are dying, says heart-unit lobby

Members of the Cardiac Companions' Association A\ere dying because they could not get surgery, the organisation's secretary (Mr N. W. Columbus) told a meeting of the Canterbury’ Progress League last evening.

Three patients in Princess> Margaret Hospital should: ruary. He was awaiting sur-j gery himself, and was taking; 40 pills a day to stay alive.: he said. He had been forced ; into retirement because of his Earlier moves for an open-i heart unit in Christchurch; were now frustrated by pro-’ cedure. The Hospital Advi-. sory Council had yet to make) a decision on submissions; from the Otago Hospital; Board—which had declared a firm opposition to a unit in Christchurch before 1981-821 —and the North Canterbury : Hospital Board, which wants: the unit urgently. A top Wellington cardiolo-j gist had promised his ser-i vices to Christchurch if the! heart unit began soon; other-; wise he intended “to leave us,” Mr Columbus said.; Cardiac sisters had trained! themselves overseas to ser-! vice the unit. A delegation from the; North Canterbury Hos-' pi tai Board to the Otago Board had led to an impasse; | both parties had “agreed to!

■ disagree” until the decision . of the Hospital Advisory i Council. , “In the meantime we are j not permitted to leave ; Christchurch, and the waffling is intolerable,” said Mr 'Columbus. “I might not be alive by the time I am i called.” i “We are talking about people,” said Mr D. S. McKenzie (Ashburton). “Do not Jet us be fobbed off by proI cedural technicalities, and I hush conspiracies. These I people are undergoing trauma enough in their condition .' without facing unnecessary ; delays. ; "All we are talking about is less than SIM. At present, the cost of sending about 200 , referred Christchurch cases I to Dunedin each year is a I quarter of that cost. In four i years we would have paid for . the cardiac unit in saved j travel costs alone.” ' At present onlv 800 to 10‘X) persons of about 30,000 in ■ New Zealand who needed corI rective heart surgery were I getting “optimal treatment,” Mr McKenzie said. I In terms of human lives, 'people having had surgerv on

the three main arteries would have a 45 per cent greater chance of being alive five years after the operation than they would have had without it. The Progress League decided to write to the Minister of Health asking him to find out whv Christchurch cardiologists were not referring heart patients to Otago.

Mrs M. E. Murray (Waimairi County Council) asked if cardiologists were refusi ing to refer patients to Otago in a tactic to put pressure ion the Government for a I Christchurch heart unit. The league also decided to; convene a meeting of local! members of Parliament.! Christchurch metropolitan local-body representatives, and members of the North Canterbury Hospital Board in an attempt to get a "fully operational unit” for Christchurch before the end of the year. “Surgeons and other personnel were immediately available. The only limiting factor was the necessary Government financial approval,” said a rider to the motion.