Dominic O’Sullivan
Reports that associate health minister David Seymour has told Pharmac to “stop factoring Te Tiriti o Waitangi into its decisions” aren’t strictly accurate.
His five-page letter of expectations to Pharmac only gave the Treaty of Waitangi a few lines. Seymour said Pharmac should no longer follow the previous government’s instruction to “consider how it could contribute to embedding Te Tiriti o Waitangi across the health sector”.
In short, whatever “embedding” means, Pharmac shouldn’t consider it. Instead, he instructed:
“Pharmac’s role should focus on delivering improved health outcomes underpinned by robust data and evidence, in accordance with its statutory responsibilities. This should serve all New Zealanders based on actual need, without assigning their background as a proxy of need.”
