The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) is the professional association and union uniting doctors and dentists in New Zealand.
A Facebook page has been set up to gather practical support and funding for traumatised ambulance, police, doctors and nurses. facebook.com/helpthehealers All donated funds go to the Maia Health Foundation in Christchurch: https://www.maiahealth.org.nz/
A Christchurch expert in the medicine of older people is mourning a former colleague who died in Friday’s terror attack. Last night, Dr Amjad Hamid was still missing and unaccounted for, and his wife, Hanah Al Adem, told Checkpoint yesterday she is struggling to come to terms with the situation. Christchurch-based emeritus professor of geriatrics at the University of Otago, Dick Sainsbury, is upset about the loss of Dr Hamid, who he helped to teach when came to this country about …
Tēnā koutou The Medical Council of New Zealand stands together with the people of Christchurch following Friday’s tragic events. Our aroha and manaakitanga go out to everyone, especially the Muslim and Christchurch communities. We are immensely grateful for the commitment and dedication of all doctors, nurses and other health professionals who have been caring for the injured. We particularly acknowledge the pain, sorrow and heartfelt loss since Friday that our colleagues of Muslim faith will be feeling. It is now …
Responding to the attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said: “We are shocked and saddened to wake to the news of this atrocity, in which so many people lost their lives. “We send our thoughts and condolences to the victims and their loved ones, and solidarity to our friends at the New Zealand Medical Association and healthcare professionals working tirelessly on the front line treating the wounded and those traumatised by this …
ASMS is saddened to report that one of our members, Dr Amjad Hamid, died in Friday’s mass shooting in Christchurch. Stuff website reports that Amjad Hamid, 57, was an SMO and rural hospital consultant at Hawera Hospital. Prior to that he was a senior doctor with a special interest in cardiology, and worked for Canterbury DHB and as a locum at other DHBs around the country. He lived in Christchurch with his wife and family but travelled to Hawera for …
The senior doctors’ union says departing Waikato District Health Board interim chief Derek Wright provided much-needed stability in the wake of the Nigel Murray scandal. “The DHB desperately needed a steady pair of hands at the helm after former Chief Executive Nigel Murray left in disgrace,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). “Staff were unsettled and morale was very low. Derek Wright’s job was to stabilise the ship so the DHB could get …
Short GP visits, staff shortages and burnout are all putting strain on healthcare professionals’ capacity to be compassionate and caring. It’s an “uncomfortable” reality – one which 300 doctors, nurses and medical students gathered at a sold-out conference on ‘Compassion in Healthcare’ to hear about this weekend. Healthcare professionals are caring by their very nature, but systemic issues are diminishing their ability to be caring day-to-day, conference organisers Professor Nathan Consedine and Dr Tony Fernando from the University of Auckland’s School of Medicine said. The conference, a …
An expert on immunisation says making vaccinations compulsory in New Zealand may not be a good idea. Immunisation Advisory Centre director Dr Nikki Turner told The Project that, in fact, there’s plenty of evidence that voluntary vaccinations for the general public are the best way to control infectious diseases like mumps, measles and rubella. “The data would show that countries that have it compulsory… a lot of them get lower coverage than us [in New Zealand],” Dr Turner said. Indeed, …
Support for the disabled is being quietly cut person by person after the Ministry of Health backed down on sector-wide funding changes, advocates say. Multiple providers across New Zealand said they had noticed a trend of delayed referrals, reduced support hours, and growing waiting lists in recent months. They estimated that Disability Support Services, which is run by the ministry, was heading for a $100 million deficit and that it was attempting to find savings before the end of the …
Doctors are treating unimmunised New Zealanders in carparks and outdoor areas in an attempt to reduce the spread of measles, as the number of confirmed cases of the contagious disease rose to 25. A severe measles outbreak, described as the worst “in years” continues to spread in the Canterbury region of the South Island, with health authorities saying 100,000 people need to be urgently vaccinated, and more cases of the highly infectious illness are expected in the …