On Monday, 1,000 people, including a panel of officials assigned by the Ministry of Health, participated in the public meeting held at Dunedin Town Hall, South Island, New Zealand. The meeting was intended to discuss the current conditions of the neurosurgery services offered in South Island. The panel included consumer advocate David Russell and an Adelaide neurosurgeon Glenn McCulloch.

South Island District Health Boards expressed disagreement with the Government’s choice of the location of the services, as they wanted the neurosurgery service to relocate to Christchurch. In addition, the Boards required that the regional neurosurgery service would include 6 surgeons. This request has previously been declined by the Government.

The meeting was headed by Anne Kolbe, the Panel Chairwoman and a Pediatric Surgeon in Auckland, who was assigned to offer recommendations regarding the matter. Although a similar meeting took place on Thursday in Invercargill, another Southern city, to deal with the same issue of neurosurgery services, the Monday meeting was the first to include health officials from the Government to discuss the residents’ demands.

The meeting ended with the panel’s resolution that it will be holding another meeting with the mayors and health specialists of the southern cities by Wednesday.