Free medical care at Minister’s discretion

Press, 15 January 1982, Page 4

Free medical care at Minister’s discretion

If Miss Jeanne Gunning, a victim of a heroin overdose in Australia, were permitted to settle in New Zealand, the taxpayer need not bear all the financial burden of supporting her in hospital, said the member of Parliament for Papanui, Mr M. K. Moore, yesterday. On Wednesday, Mr Moore submitted a fresh application from Miss Gunning’s family to the Minister of Immigration (Mr Malcolm) appealing to him to grant to ..Miss Gunning a visa to allow Her to live permanently in New Zealand.

According to the Health Department's director of hospitals. Dr P. Lawrie. Mr Malcolm, as Minister of Health, would have the discretion to decide whether Miss Gunning would be eligible for free medical care in New Zealand. Dr Lawrie said that there was no reciprocal agreement between Australia and New Zealand covering situations in which a citizen of one country became ill and required hospital treatment in the other. If a New Zealander became ill in Australia he had to bear the cost of hospital and medical care. Similarly, if an Australian wanted treatment in a New Zealand hospital he must pay. unless he became a permanent resident of New Zealand.

Miss Gunning’s family would first have to prove that she had at some time expressed an interest in

settling in New Zealand, said Dr Lawrie. “The crucial thing is the intention to remain.” Since Miss Gunning was presumably incapable of expressing an intention, the family would have to produce evidence that Miss Gunning had earlier expressed a wish to settle permanently, he said. Mr Moore said that he did not believe New Zealand should have a completely “open door” policy for persons requiring hospital treatment. “That would be unfair to our taxpayers. However, there might be a case for some reciprocal action which could be taken with the Australian Government," said Mr Moore. He did not envisage a one-fop-one exchange but the idea of some sort of arrangement should be discussed by the authorities, he said. “The first thing to do would be to find out how many cases there are each year on both sides of the Tasman, then some sort of a quota system could be worked out. In all areas of our relationship with Australia we should be trying to break down rules that could cause hardship to families in both countries,” said Mr Moore. A spokesman for the North Canterbury Hospital Board said that the cost of keeping a person in an acute admitting hospital in the North Canterbury area was $193 a

day. The cost of keeping a person in a geriatric hospital was $5O a day.

The director of the Social Welfare Department in Christchurch, Mr C. L. Waters, said that New Zealand had a reciprocal arrangement with Australia for persons on invalid benefits. Invalid benefits are payable to persons over 15 who are either totally blind or permanently and severely restricted in their capacity for work as a result of accident, illness, or congenital causes.

An unmarried mother with one dependent child would qualify for a benefit of $111.92 a week, but this amount would be reduced if the beneficiary stayed in hospital longer than three months. Mr Waters said that, when there were no other commitments, a benefit was reduced to $9 a week; but, when there was a dependent child or other commitments, whether the benefit was reduced would depend on the circumstances.

Miss Gunning’s mother has said that the family contributed to a private health insurance scheme which would partly cover medical and hospital costs, and that the family would “do what it could."

Mr Moore said that he hoped to have a reply from Mr Malcolm within the next fortnight. He believed that the application would be delivered to Mr Malcolm's home in Auckland.