Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:621;Page:16713] 
11.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Is she prepared to give a guarantee to New Zealanders that her policy with respect to pharmacies will not put New Zealanders’ lives at risk; if not why not? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 I am prepared to guarantee that the Government’s policies with respect to pharmacies are designed to improve the health of New Zealanders. We have reduced the cost of prescribed medicine through reduced co-payments for thousands of New Zealanders made it more convenient for people to collect their medicines all at once when it is safe for them to do so and increased access to more medicines. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked the Minister a very simple question: is she prepared to give a guarantee to New Zealanders that her policy with respect to pharmacies will not put New Zealanders’ lives at risk; if not why not? I have not got an answer yet. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I will repeat my answer. I am prepared to guarantee that this Government’s policy in respect of pharmacies is designed to improve health rather than put people’s lives at risk. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am asking the Minister to give me a guarantee that her policies will not put the lives of New Zealanders at risk. I do not want to hear a diatribe about what is not happening; I want to know whether we can have an assurance now that her policies will not put people’s lives at risk. It is a pretty simple question—yes or no? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member cannot stipulate the answer. The Minister addressed the question. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: If what the Minister says is true why has there been a dramatic difference in the last 2 years in the number of drugs coming on to the Australian market as compared with New Zealand; with for example in 2003 only one new medicine listed in New Zealand compared with 30 in Australia; and is the Minister just selling Third World second-class drugs to the New Zealand people? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The efficacy of drugs in New Zealand is not decided by Pharmac; it is decided by Medsafe which ensures that they are safe drugs for New Zealanders to use. In the year 2003-04 15 new medicines were listed on the pharmaceutical schedule in New Zealand not one. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: What specific measures has the Minister put in place to prevent children from overdosing on a predicted $13 million worth of wasted drugs that overflow New Zealand’s bathrooms as a result of stat dispensing; if she has not put any measures in place why not? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The use of childproof caps on drugs in New Zealand has been in place for many years and has been supported by the Parliament. However the change to stat dispensing last year was a change from what happened in 1996. For many years we had stat dispensing. It was then changed to monthly dispensing to save money. We changed it to stat dispensing last year and thousands of New Zealanders welcome it including the Consumers Institute and Grey Power. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked the Minister a very specific question. What specific measures has she put in place to prevent children from overdosing? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Speaking to the point of order Mr Speaker I point out that in the first part of my answer I mentioned childproof caps on medicines. The member may not have heard that. That stops children from opening bottles so that they can take the medicine. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The question was addressed. 
Judy Turner 
: Does the Minister agree that a higher than expected number of close-controlled prescriptions issued by doctors is an indication that stat dispensing is not working because doctors are opting for safer prescribing models; if not what does she think this trend suggests? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Yes there are some doctors who are still using close control to a higher extent than was expected. However the saving has been over $20 million which means that there are many more New Zealanders than before who are able to get their prescriptions 3-monthly without having to turn up to a doctor to get another prescription and they find that convenient. The only people who do not find it convenient are pharmacists. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Why should anyone believe the Minister’s assurances when she is out there bullying all sorts of pharmacies into signing contracts whether or not they are good for the people; and more importantly does she agree with this statement: “Current Government policies may achieve some short-term monetary savings but the real cost in terms of patients’ health and even lives being lost due to a lack of access to innovative medicines far outweigh dollars and cents. New Zealand’s patients deserve the best health-care. Pharmac should promote not block access to quality medicines that save lives.”? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have never bullied a single pharmacy into signing a contract. That is not my role. In fact pharmacies around New Zealand have got signed contracts and I believe they are working very well. We provide in New Zealand some of the best quality drugs in the world at an affordable price. That means that if we do not have a blowout on drugs we have the ability to provide money in many other areas. There is nothing Third World about what we provide in terms of pharmaceuticals in this country.