$750,000 on Aussie anorexia treatment

Health officials have spent nearly $750,000 sending anorexic teenagers to Australia for treatment because New Zealand doesn't have enough hospital beds available.

Auckland District Health Board has sent 13 teenagers, from the upper North Island to Sydney at a cost of up to $70,000 each, figures released under the Official Information Act show.

Anorexia sufferer Millie Furse, aged 17, and her mum Michelle have been in Sydney since early December.

Michelle said Millie's GP referred her to the Auckland branch of Eating Disorder Services (EDS) but the waiting list was lengthy.

Millie was in and out of Middlemore Hospital as her weight plummeted. At one stage she weighed only 33.7kg, on a daily diet of half an apple and half a grapefruit.

EDS arranged for her to be admitted to hospital but the treatment didn't work. It was decided that Millie needed urgent inpatient care, which would mean the move to Australia.

"I was devastated," Michelle said. "I knew that Sydney was an option but I thought we were okay because we had got into the EDS."

Now Millie is improving and has gained 14kg since crossing the Tasman. But she misses her family, her part-time job and studies at Pakuranga College. "I want to come back home, I can't wait," she said.

There are only 12 beds for acute inpatient treatment for anorexia in New Zealand: six in Christchurch and six in Wellington.

North Island DHBs have met to try to organise an acute inpatient unit for the northern region.

The director of mental health and addictions services for the northern region, Ian McKenzie, said services available through EDS nationally had grown in the past few years, with staff doubling to 18. McKenzie said most anorexia patients were treated in New Zealand, with only the most acute cases going to Australia.

It is not just eating disorders forcing New Zealanders across the ditch for health care. Hundreds have travelled to Australia for radiotherapy because of a shortage of radiotherapists here.

Health Minister Tony Ryall was unavailable for comment last night, but earlier this year he described the problems with anorexia treatment as "a shambles", telling Campbell Live he had ordered a report on the DHBs' efforts to organise a service for the northern region.

DESTINATION NZ
While sick Kiwis cross the ditch for cancer and anorexia treatments, in America New Zealand is being promoted as a medical tourism destination.

Medtral New Zealand provides complete travel and medical care packages for Americans wanting to beat the cost of care in the United States. One Arizona man had a hip replacement for US$23,000 ($45,660), compared to the US$100,000-plus ($198,530) it would have cost in his home country.

The Medtral website describes our health system as "world class".