A Kiwi-Indian community leader is urging West Aucklanders and the broader community to sign a petition to save the Waitakere Hospital.
Sunil Kaushal, who is also President of West Auckland based Waitakere Indian Association (WIA), is on a mission in his personal capacity to advocate and garner as much support as possible for a currently ongoing petition to get the government’s attention back toward the Waitakere Hospital.
Launched by Waitakere Health Link, the petition seeks to bring back the now diminished attention of the Ministry of Health, which has declined the funding request for financing the increased services and facilities at Waitakere Hospital. The next round of funding is not due until 2024-25.
Notably, Waitakere Health Link and Waitemata District Health Board have been working on a Master Plan for Waitakere Hospital since 2000 with the goal of becoming an Acute General Hospital.
Incremental progress has been made since then, with the opening of an Emergency Department 24/7 in 2011.
However, that incremental work has come to a halt with the government declining the latest round of funding request, saying it “does not believe it can make recommendations of the progression of the programme Business Case” submitted by the Waitemata District Health Board and have deferred the future development of Waitakere Hospital to the new NZ Health Board entity.
The letter from the Ministry of Health rejecting the funding plea also says “The Waitakere Tranche One Business Case was not identified by the Northern Region DHBs as a priority for Budget 2022 funding (covering the financial years 2022/2023 and 2023/2024)”.
In response to that rejection, Waitakere Health Link believes that there is a lack of understanding of the urgency to meet the increased capacity needed to provide adequate services to the West Auckland population (a population that is deprived and one of the fastest-growing in the country).
Waitakere Hospital has the lowest bed numbers for the population at 1.2 per 1000 population.
Waitakere Health Link asks that the Waitakere Hospital Master Planning Programme Business Case be reinstated into the current financial year and funding approved before June 2022.
Kaushal, a West Auckland resident for more than 20 years and a self-avowed “Westie,” is taking upon himself to augment the effort of Waitakere Health Link by setting up a separate website and advocating on social media.
Commencing his efforts on social media on April 7 – the World Health Day–Sunil had launched a website https://www.savewaitakerehospital.nz/ and appealing to Aucklanders to sign the petition (available at www.change.org).
Sharing his motivation for launching his own advocacy on social media for supporting this petition, Sunil said, “We have all seen the importance of a reliable and world-class health system during this pandemic. I was shocked to hear that even for a small operation like appendectomy, which is common for kids, we have to rush to North Shore after being diagnosed from Waitakere Hospital.”
“I have personally and with my family seen the importance of how important it is to have a quick diagnosis - it’s a matter between life and death.”
“People of West Auckland have been calling for the upgrade for the last 30 years, and if the government does not act now, it will be over two generations missing out on a first-world health system in our back yard.
“The building has gone past their use-by date, and it’s not about keep-spending money to renovate them again and again. The health minister, with a stroke of his pen, can make that decision to endorse it,” Sunil said.
The petition launched about three weeks ago has so far garnered the signature of 3666 people out of the initial target of 5000 signatures.
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