Hours after watching Pharmac Minister David Seymour dismissing Te Tiriti as “performative”, and calling for the drug buyers to ignore it when making decisions, a Pharmac director resigned in protest.
Former Pharmac board member Dr Anthony Jordan told Stuff he wrote to board chairperson Paula Bennett that night, resigning effective immediately, because he believed the new directive ignored “clear evidence” that the agency’s Treaty considerations had improved the health of New Zealand.
On Tuesday, Seymour issued the Government’s new letter of expectations to Pharmac. He then spoke about his expectations at an event with Bennett, where he said: “I think Pharmac has burnt a lot of energy, trying to fulfil this commitment to include the Treaty in everything that they do.”
He continued, “We’re being very clear that they have an obligation to serve every single New Zealander based on their need.”
Jordan said Seymour was wrong, and was incorrect in assuming a focus on the Māori-Crown relationship came at the expense of anything else.
As a result of the previous Government’s Treaty expectation, Jordan said, Pharmac established Te Rōpū - a Māori leadership and advice group - which sat alongside other advice groups, including the Consumer Advisory Committee.
He said the advice of Te Rōpū had directly led to Pharmac taking a different approach to funding diabetes treatments.
Through those changes, Jordan said there had been clear health improvements for Māori patients - saving the country money and saving lives.
“This robust evidence shows that for the New Zealand health system, there will be fewer hospitalisations, less cardiovascular disease, and less renal disease,” he said.
“It’s had a clear economic and fiscal benefit for the whole society, as well as freeing up resource within the health system.”
Jordan said he received a copy of Seymour’s letter of expectations on Tuesday morning, which caused him immediate concern. He then waited to watch a speech and press conference that afternoon, at which point he said it was clear that he could not continue on the Pharmac board.
“I didn’t feel comfortable, morally or ethnically, supporting what they wrote and said about Te Tiriti. Given that, I could not be a governor on a board, on behalf of the Crown if that was its position,” he said.
He said he had concerns about the future of Te Rōpū, but also believed Pharmac could not “unclear” what it had learnt about Māori health in recent years.
Jordan is a senior immunologist and allergist, who took a lead role in the northern Covid-19 response. He is from Ngāti Wai.
- Stuff