80696 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Associate Minister of Health

80696 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Associate Minister of Health: Further to the Pharmac Board Chair’s statement that “I can talk of the Pacific gentleman that’s been in hospital three times, cost tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars. And when someone finally actually went to his home and knocked on his door, he had suitcases of medicines, no idea how to take them—and so just kept on falling into that. That’s not equality. So we were throwing all the right medicines at him, but none of that kind of follow up,” is it the Minister’s view that Pharmac should play a role in supporting medicines access, beyond its role in funding, and if so, how does the Minister envisage that role should be carried out?

Hon David Seymour: I expect Pharmac to perform their statutory role of funding medicines and where possible seek to enhance access to medicines for all New Zealanders.