Pharmac to disestablish its Māori advisory group

By Pokere Paewai of RNZ
Pharmac has decided to disestablish its Māori advisory group – something the advisory group’s former chairman says will compromise its ability to deliver for Māori.
In a statement, the chairwoman of the drug funding agency, Paula Bennett, said the board made the decision to disestablish the group in order to put more focus on other partnership arrangements already in place.
These include the four Māori health professional bodies, iwi Māori Partnership Boards, and the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee within the Ministry of Health, she said.
“Pharmac wants to ensure all New Zealanders have access to the medicines and medical devices they need. Engaging effectively with Māori continues to be a priority for Pharmac, and Pharmac’s Board has been considering how best to do this,” Bennett said.
“I advised the co-chairs of Te Rōpū personally on 18 October.”
The co-chair of Te Rōpū Eugene Berryman-Kamp said the Pharmac board did not consult on their decision to disestablish the group, but overall, it was not a surprise.
“Disappointed would be a fair thing to say, surprised possibly not, due to the fact there is a trend in terms of things te ao Māori being reduced,” he said.
Berryman-Kamp said Te Rōpū was solely focused on providing advice to Pharmac and now that had been disestablished the agency would be receiving advice from a non-dedicated source, which could impact its ability to deliver outcomes for Māori.
“My concern is because it’s not through a dedicated committee I think [Pharmac’s] ability to get that advice on time will be compromised and as such the ability to make sure programmes are tailored from a pro-equity perspective in particular will be compromised.”
Another function of Te Rōpū was to meet regularly with Māori staff at Pharmac. Berryman-Kamp said there were only a small number of Māori staff working there.
“We’re just concerned from a cultural safety perspective in terms of who will be looking out for them, who will be able to support them moving forward with Te Rōpū no longer being in place.”
Te Rōpū was formed in September 2021. Its eight members are from around New Zealand, representing a variety of health professions, including doctors, pharmacists, researchers, and directors.
Members were nominated by Māori Health Professional Bodies (MHPB) Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa (Māori medical professionals), Ngā Kaitiaki o te Puna Rongoa (Māori Pharmacists Association), Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa – Tōpūtanga Tāpuhi Kaitiakitanga o Aotearoa (Māori Nurses), Ngā Pou Mana Tangata Whenua Allied Health, together with the two Whānau Ora commissioning agencies.
Participation with Te Rōpū was in addition to the individual members’ day jobs, Berryman-Kamp said.
“So effectively those roles have been disestablished, there are no further roles at Pharmac where committee members will be providing advice,” he said.
Pharmac established Te Rōpū in 2022 following a damning independent review of the agency and health outcomes for Māori, Pacific and people with disabilities.
The advice of Te Rōpū had directly led to Pharmac taking a different approach to funding diabetes treatments, former Pharmac director Dr Anthony Jordan said.
In July, Associate Health Minister David Seymour told Pharmac it was “inappropriate” for the agency to keep considering the Treaty of Waitangi’s place in the health sector.
This led to Jordan quitting his position as he said he “could not with good conscience” continue to work for the agency following directions to stop factoring Te Tiriti o Waitangi into its decisions.
“It is not good to be a Māori man, in terms of morbidity and mortality, compared to your Pākehā counterparts. And, sadly, it’s the same for our wāhine. This is not new information, it is published year on year,” he said.
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