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Inaction over banning surgical mesh putting Kiwi women at risk - Christine Rankin

September 17, 2018

It’s used for the condition of stress incontinence, which is common after childbirth, but has been banned in Britain.

Health advocate Christine Rankin wants the Government to act on surgical mesh, saying the continued use puts New Zealand women at risk. 

Ms Rankin, who has personal experience with surgical mesh, wants to see the end of it being implanted in women. 

It is used for the treatment of stress incontinence, which is a condition common after childbirth, and in some cases on men who are having  hernia repair. 

Surgical mesh has been banned in Britain, a move Ms Rankin believes should be followed in New Zealand. 

On TVNZ1's Q+A, Ms Rankin said it needs to be banned until the right processes are in place to ensure it is safe. 

"I just don't think we should be taking the risk at all, and why are we so slow? This Government, before it was elected was all over it."

"NZ First, the Greens and Labour were all saying this was an appalling situation for women, and we're going to fix it.

"There is a year gone by, and every week thousands of New Zealand women are having this operation."

When asked by host Corin Dann about the women the procedure works for, Ms Rankin said "how can we continue to take the risk when the kind of things that are happening to women are so extreme?"

Surgical mesh has been banned in Britain, but not in New Zealand.

TVNZ1's Breakfast reported by December last year, ACC had paid out nearly $13 million in injury claims to people who have had issues with mesh over the last decade. Some sufferers had the mesh erode in their bodies or bind with other tissue. 

The Labour Party called for inquiries into surgical mesh in 2014 and 2016 , as did NZ First in 2017 .

There have been questions raised over its safety, and it's restricted in Australia.

In July, 2017, Green Party's Julie Anne Genter told Stuff inaction on surgical mesh was a sign the then National Government "do not have the resources they need to look after New Zealanders as they should". 

The Government are looking towards a temporary register to establish the scale of the issue. 

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