KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Orthopaedic Association (NZOA) is calling for Health Minister David Cunliffe to make strike action illegal for workers in essential health services.
The NZOA, a professional body of 185 orthopaedic surgeons, wants strikes replaced by compulsory arbitration in industrial negotiations in the health industry.
"The past and present Minister of Health and union leaders have rejected our plea for this approach," NZOA president John Matheson said today.
"They must believe the rights of the public with serious needs are less important than the rights of health workers to strike."
Mr Matheson said the NZOA applauded the recent statement by Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson that it was "an incontrovertible fact" that patient safety was jeopardised during strikes by health professionals.
Mr Paterson was reporting on two investigations into complaints against the Otago District Health Board during the medical radiation technologists' 2006 strikes.
Dunedin-based Mr Matheson said that patients' lives and limbs were unnecessarily placed at risk during the 2006 strikes.
"At a personal level, those strikes represented the most vulnerable period of my career," he said.
"It was extremely difficult diagnosing and managing patients' injuries and sudden illness without X-rays and other radiological investigations.
"The Resident Doctors' Association strikes similarly affected patient care in our public hospitals."
Mr Matheson said the NZOA endorsed Mr Paterson's recommendation that the Minister of Health reviewed his recent report on the Otago cases and considered what action could be taken to ensure better protection of patients during strikes.
"However, to the NZOA, the answer is obvious. Strikes in the essential health industry must become illegal. The events highlighted by Mr Paterson cannot be allowed to recur."
- NZPA
