Jump to content

Denying immigrants with serious health issues into NZ???


penguinleo

Recommended Posts

I am uncomfortable with it, especially if the condition is known, expensive to treat, is conceivably the main reason for their coming here and would be paid for thanks to the taxpayer.

However if they have the funds and family here.... case by case.

On humanitarian grounds, of course it would be lovely to help people who are suffering simply because the health system in their country is broken, but that would bankrupt this country.

I remember a while ago there was a big stink about people coming here to have their babies, partly for free care (I think) and partly for a good passport for the baby. :roll: I believe they put a stop to that one once someone caused a stink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Current rules are that you are welcome at anytime.

if you have a prexisting complaint then you or your government has to pay.

if you have a new complaint then our health service pays. or an accident then acc

needless to say billions are written of as bad debt each year due to non payers.

worse in Auckland any other part of country.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This really is a can of worms! Even inside my own head! :lol:

On the one hand, our health system seems to be struggling to cope with the people we already have - so why would we want to add more burden to it?

On the other hand, my brother is in a wheelchair following a car accident several years ago. He is likely to have on-going health problems as he gets older as a result of complications from his injury. However, Canada admitted him as an immigrant, he married a Canadian girl and they now have two beautiful children who rere born there. I really admire the fact that the Canadian authorities could see past his disability and allowed him to live in the country of his choice, and I hope New Zealand would do something similar.

As others have said, it really needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis - balancing the person's contribution to the country against the likelihood of being a drain on the system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really think it would have to be based on the type of heath issues brought upon them.

I mean if they had a serious disease that could affect other people in this country, then I'd say no.

They'd definitely have something the governent wouldn't like to deal with, since they don't like to get their hands dirty.

As for injuries and disabilites I personally can accept that. That's something that can sometimes be fixed in the future.

But the imigration system itself should be fixed.

They let too many people in and most of them can't speak english or obey our law. Or they even demand us to change the law to suit them when this country has it's own set rules and guidelines. :roll:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

id say depends what it is... at the moment the system is pretty stringent, it took us 2 and a half years to get our residency, including:

3 sets of thoracic xrays looking for TB, cancers etc

3 full medicals (turn and cough)

$ 250 for each family member over 16 every 6 months for just staying in the country, plus study permit or work permits. also renewed every 6 months.

it is alot for people to come into NZ already. and we were supposedly "fast tracked" due to my fathers proffession being in demand... :roll:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i remember a news story in the last year or so of the govt making pregnant women from other countries coming here to have their children to pay for their care. they reported that women were coming to NZ a month or so before being due & staying until the birth & going again for two reasons, firstly the care was free & secondly the child is a NZ citizen which enabled them to immigrate back at a later date. if i remeber correctly the cost of the care was around $20K per birth. i agree with making them pay for this.

i see immigration tghtening up around theworld lately, did anyone see the herald article about the NZ passport holding pacific island mother & son that are being deported back here because of their exstensive criminal records?

on the topic, i don't believe we should stop sick people coming in to NZ (except for diseases like aids) as long as our govt can get some kind of re-embursement from the govt of the origin of the sick people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed, Alanmin.

Hepatitis C is much more common in NZ than HIV, is uncurable and much much nastier than HIV

It is also terribly easy to transmit. A needlestick injury (to a health professional, I used to be a dental assistant) where the needle was used in a Hep C patient, has a 50% chance of infecting the other person!! Very scary. (Not actually sure of hte other routes of transmission, but it is easy.

If you have unprotected sex with someone who has HIV, you have a 1 in 500 chance of getting it - pretty damned low! You probably have a much higher chance of getting every other STD (and you are a moron for having unprotected sex in the first place, whether or not it was otherwise a boring weekend)

Have there been any cases of people trying to deliberately infect others with Hep C as there have been with HIV?

While I agree with you Alanmin that there are more infectious diseases out there that deserve a greater paranoia, HIV/AIDS is very expensive to treat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Certain strains of Hep C are curable but not cheaply or easily either. Hep B can be an STD as well as by transfer of blood like Hep C. There are many different types of Hep but NZ does not test for them. In fact testing for Hep C is relatively new. They used to test for Hep B and if that was negative they would say it was Hep A. I investigated many cases of Hepatitis at one of the local prisons that were all transmited by dirty syringes but because they came up negative for Hep B they were notified as Hep A. Today they would have been notified as Hep C. Needle transfer or through contaminated blood transfusion is the usual with Hep C. and B although I have seen cases of STD with B. Have a good weekend ya all

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...