Maori doctors bound for Ahipara

Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa, the Maori Medical Practitioners' Association, will spend four days in conference at Ahipara next week, thanks to an impassioned plea from Kaitaia GP Dr Lance O'Sullivan at last year's conference.

"This will be the first time in the 15 since the association ended a long hiatus that the conference has been held north of Auckland," Dr O'Sullivan said, "and that's really exciting."

His pitch last year had included a DVD extolling the virtues of the Far North, from its beaches and Cape Reinga (which the visitors will see for themselves) and Kaitaia Hospital to a rap by Te Hei Harawira.

The conference will begin at Ahipara's Korou Kore Marae on Thursday next week, ending Sunday morning. Around 150 doctors and medical students will be there to hear presentations by researchers in a number of fields, with associate Health Minister Tariana Turia formally opening the conference at a dinner in Kaitaia on the Saturday night, where Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira will be guest speaker.

Secondary school students from around the very Far North will be the association's guests at Ahipara on the Thursday night, where they will hear the virtues of pursuing careers in medicine, and the Friday's trip to Cape Reinga will include calls at the clinics at Te Hapua and Te Kao.

Dr O'Sullivan said those attending the conference would range from medical students to qualified doctors, researchers and specialists from throughout New Zealand covering a wide range of fields.

Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa had been founded by Sir Maui Wiremu Pita Naera Pomare (1875-1930), the first Maori to qualify as a doctor, more than century ago, and it was fitting that it should meet in the Far North, given the work the one-time Minister of Health (appointed in 1923) had done to address issues of public health, the quality of housing and sanitation being of particular concern, especially in Maori communities. He launched a number of major campaigns to improve Maori health, with considerable success.

The focus next week would be on the health and well-being of Maori doctors themselves, so they could do their job to the best of their ability, however.

"The dangers of burn-out, putting themselves in vulnerable positions, lack of support, those are the sorts of things we'll be talking about," Dr O'Sullivan said.

There were currently some 350 Maori doctors in New Zealand, about three or four per cent of the total, well short of Maoridom's 15 per cent of the total population and perhaps 20 per cent of those with health problems.

"We could certainly do with more, and that's why the association is driving the recruitment of young Maori for careers in medicine," he added.

"I'm very proud that the first conference north of Auckland is coming here, and I'm hopeful of bringing more conferences like this to the Kaitaia area in the future."