Dentists' Treaty clause attacked

Tony Ryall

The National Party is calling for Treaty of Waitangi clauses to be stripped from public health sector contracts, after it was revealed today such clauses were included in district health board (DHB) dental contracts.

The document, obtained by National's health spokesman Tony Ryall, says that DHBs should consider "the Treaty of Waitangi principles of partnership, proactive protection of Maori health interests, co-operation and utmost good faith" in the services they provide.

It says they must also agree that Maori health was a "specifically identified health gain priority area".

Mr Ryall said health policies should be based on need, not race.

"Just why a dentist needs to be bound by the Treaty of Waitangi escapes me. Teeth are teeth, and people should get help on the basis of need, not race."

Mr Ryall said he expected the clause was also in other health contracts.

He said the contract ran counter to Labour's claim to have eliminated race-based policies in a wide-ranging review last year.

"Labour is back to its old tricks after pretending to crack down on Treaty clauses and race-based policies."

National's "one law for all" slogan was a key plank in its election campaign last year.

Health Minister Pete Hodgson has said that the contract explicitly stated that the three short clauses relating to the Treaty could be superseded by other parts of the 24-page contract.

However, based on any analysis, Maori children were a high needs group, which had rates of fillings and dental decay over 50 per cent higher than Pakeha children.

Mr Hodgson said Maori children had a poor record of accessing existing services so it was vitally important that DHB staff proactively promoted services to them.

To achieve this they would need to have an understanding of how Maori communities worked.

"The clause is there precisely because unless people understand how to better relate to Maori they are not going to get access to those kids whose dental caries rate is demonstrably higher than Europeans."

The contract also stated that Pacific children were a high needs group.

- NZPA