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Patients seeking surgery at Waikato Hospital are being asked to verify their eligibility for healthcare, after a woman received care for a taxpayer funded birth after supplying false details.
Police are investigating an incident where a woman presented a fake passport to Waikato Hospital last year and then managed receive free birth care costing $5,000.
District Health Board spokeswoman Mary Anne Gill says 4,000 patients have been asked to provide formal identification, in a bid to flush out ineligible patients from waiting lists.
The DHB is working closely with the Immigration Service on several suspicious cases.
Ms Gill said the problem used to be confined to Auckland, but appears to have headed south.
- NEWSTALK ZB
