The failure of multiple governments to address inequities in bowel cancer screening has led to “the potentially avoidable death of thousands of New Zealanders”, says a New Zealand Medical Journal editorial.

With the ACT Party’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill having its first reading in parliament last week, the debate and protests have been – understandably – focused on the local historical and political landscape.

Today marks a long-awaited milestone for survivors of the state care system, with the formal apology by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon acknowledging the catastrophic abuse endured by at least 250,000 people at the hands of state and faith-based institutions between 1950 and 1999.

The government’s recent directive that public services should be prioritised “on the basis of need, not race” will make it harder and more time consuming to reach New Zealanders with higher needs.

When prime minister Christopher Luxon criticised doctors for prioritising young Māori and Pasifika patients, he called it a matter of need, not ethnicity. But if healthcare isn’t based on ethnicity, how will we truly capture those with the highest need, ponders Lucy O’Hagan

The coalition government has launched “an attack on science and good medical practice” by directing agencies to downplay ethnicity as a marker of need, say a group of health professionals.