There are calls for more resourcing of medical staff so they’re better prepared in times of crisis such as the one New Zealand is currently facing from Covid-19.
Junior doctors and nurses had been on strike before the coronavirus pandemic reached New Zealand, claiming the sector was under-valued.
Dr Elizabeth Fenton from Otago University told TVNZ1’s Breakfast this morning the health system is in many ways treated like someone's own health.
"We tend to take it for granted until it's under threat," Dr Fenton said.
"And then we'll go to any length to protect it."
Dr Fenton said because investments in the health sector aren't usually seen until "far off into the future", people don't want to put the money needed into it.
"We don't necessarily see the benefits of investing right away and that's something that we have difficulty with - when we put a lot of money into something, we want to see benefits right away.
"But when a crisis occurs, that's when we realise and we see the holes from lack of investment and that's when we realise how much it really means to us."
Dr Fenton said the required change can be boiled down to simply needing more money and more resources, but there's other factors too.
"It's about recognising that we don't just need those things when a crisis occurs.
"When a crisis occurs, that's when we need to rely on the healthcare system - a well-funded, well-resourced robust health system.
"[It's] not the time to be pouring the money in."
SHARE ME