Mercy doctor likely to lose Vanuatu job

The Greens are to question the Government about Vanuatu's decision to get rid of the New Zealand mercy doctor who brought twin babies Margaret and Karen Mandan to Auckland for surgery.

Vanuatu's Director-General of the Health, Myriam Abel said there were no plans to renew Dr Derek Allen's contract.

"He has brought people into this country without [our] knowledge," Ms Abel told the Sunday Star-Times.

"Nursing, administration, medical ... I think he is trying to come up with a small ministry of health."

Ms Abel said Dr Allen's contract had been extended once.

He could submit a request for a new contract after the present one expired on April 18, but arrangements were already being made to find his replacement.

"We probably all agree he is a good doctor, but the time comes ... I'm not looking for an excuse to kick him out, I'm following procedure."

Dr Allen received the news when he returned to Vanuatu from New Zealand, where he took Margaret and Karen for heart surgery with no apparent way of paying their medical bills.

Margaret was successfully operated on at Auckland's Starship hospital to correct an inherited heart defect. However, doctors decided that Karen's condition was not treatable.

The twins and their mother returned home last week.

Dr Allen has agreed to meet the medical cost himself - even though he earns just $13,000 a year in Vanuatu.

The Greens' foreign affairs spokesman, Keith Locke, said yesterday that he would raise the situation of Dr Allen, whom he has likened to Fred Hollows and Mother Teresa, with the Government. He said New Zealand should support people like Dr Allen.

If the Vanuatu Government did make a decision that made it difficult for Dr Allen to work, it might be possible for New Zealand to direct aid to non-government organisations that wanted to invest in his work, Mr Locke said.

Fred Hollows had not always endeared himself to authorities but the solution had not been to "ear bash" the Australian Government, but to set up the Fred Hollows Foundation.

- NZPA