The Council of Medical Colleges (CMC) has put its support behind the COVID-19 response in New Zealand and committed to
working with government on the recovery phase in the health sector.
CMC, which is the collective voice of the fifteen New Zealand and Australasian-based medical colleges, formally thanks
the Prime Minister and public health sector led by Dr Ashley Bloomfield and the Ministry of Health for their tireless
work and sound decision-making in managing New Zealand’s response to COVID-19. “With currently no active COVID-19 cases
in the country, it is clear the right public health measures were taken to prevent what would have been catastrophic for
the health sector and the New Zealand public,” says the CMC Chair, Dr John Bonning.
CMC says it is a testament to the New Zealand Government, and public health physicians across the country that New
Zealand is in the position it is in now. “Public health physicians have been integral in this response - providing
modelling and advice to government, communicating with the public, advising hospitals, and contact tracing to slow the
spread of disease. This was all done in a rapidly changing environment where decisions had to be made quickly and with
limited information,” says Dr Bonning.
As the pandemic unfolded across the world in early March, the New Zealand health sector was gearing up for a possible
flood of COVID-19 patients that threatened to swamp our healthcare service. General Practitioners (GPs), psychiatrists,
and other specialists rapidly embraced new models of virtual care through telehealth and video consultations and clinic
appointments to prevent the virus spreading to patients in waiting rooms and clinics.
Intensivists prepared to maximise the available ICU capacity and worked with anaesthetists to prepare infection control
procedures and repurpose operating theatres and anaesthetic machines. Emergency and general physicians prepared and
staffed our hospitals’ acute front line, as did urgent care in the community, and our pathology colleagues rapidly
upscaled laboratory testing on an unprecedented scale. “There is not one area of the health sector that hasn’t risen to
this challenge,” says Dr Bonning.
“It is not an overstatement to say the entire health workforce watched in horror as internationally stories emerged
about the high death rate, the overwhelmed national health services and the harrowing decisions their international
colleagues were being forced to make about prioritising critical healthcare. We saw health workers under siege all over
the world and we watched as colleagues were listed as testing positive and dying.”
CMC recognises that the health impact of COVID-19 is most certainly not over yet. The response including monitoring for
COVID-19 will be ongoing. We are in no doubt that decisions made up to now will be scrutinized with the benefit of
hindsight as the pandemic progresses and the health, social and economic impact continues. Medical specialists
anticipate patients will have increased health needs due to delayed treatment, as well as emerging physical and mental
health needs as a direct result of the economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This pandemic has tested the health sector on all sides and will continue to do so. We can use this crisis to redesign
aspects of healthcare delivery, Choosing Wisely to rationally and equitably allocate our precious healthcare resource.
Dr Bonning says the CMC is committed to working with government and the Ministry of Health to ensure our health sector
can meet these challenges and support all New Zealanders, in particular Māori and Pasifika communities, who typically
experience inequitable health outcomes that will be exacerbated by the fall-out from the pandemic. CMC strongly
recommends that the Government and Ministry partner with Te Ohu Rata ō Aotearoa (Te ORA) and Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā
for guidance as this pandemic progresses, to support equitable health outcomes for Māori.
This statement has been considered by all CMC members and has the support of the majority of colleges.
The Council of Medical Colleges (CMC) is the recognised, trusted and authoritative collective voice for the Medical
Colleges in New Zealand. It represents fifteen Medical Colleges who provide support to more than 7000 medical
practitioners working in 36 vocational scopes/specialties in the New Zealand health system. CMC supports the provision
of a well-trained and safe medical workforce to serve the best interests of the New Zealand community.