Real Kiwis Say Welcome

Should Health NZ pander to racists? What about the government?

One day there will come a time
When the person you are named after dies
And all of a sudden, you're the only one left

Song: The Smith Street Band

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This headline jumped out at me yesterday: Racism fallout at North Shore Hospital after patient request to avoid Asian staff.

The article is sparse in detail, what we do know is that a hospital patient requested that they not be seen by Asian staff. That request was initially acceded to causing distress to hospital workers

Health NZ, Te Whatu Ora, won’t say anything on the basis of patient privacy. As you might expect, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) has been critical of the way the request was handled:

“From what I have seen, the way the hospital chose to manage it was unsupportive of staff and not culturally safe. I don't believe Te Whatu Ora acted as a good employer in the way it chose to manage this issue,” said Sarah Dalton, executive director of the doctors and dentists union the ASMS.

“… based on what has happened since, we don’t believe management responded well. And it would also seem they have tried to prevent our members from talking to us about the issue, and that’s a massive concern to us.”

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton. Photo: https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/

Of course, we have to allow for the possibility of mental impairment, but isn’t that what racism is - a mental impairment or abnormality? I don’t mean a physical one. Racism isn’t something that naturally occurs; it is a distortion of what should be, a cancer on the human condition. Sadly, though, it can be passed on within families.

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