S8 patients kept in limbo

I find it extraordinary that Minister Aagaard was reported to have told ABC radio on August 1 "that Dr Pang has the responsibility of referring patients on".

All of Dr Pang's 40 S8 patients have been actively preparing for his known humanitarian mission.

They have tried to gain acceptance by many GPs.

One S8 patient has a list of 10 GPs who have all refused to see her. There are no public drug clinics which will write S8 prescriptions. RDH will not act as GPs.

S8 patients, Dr Pang, interstate doctors and NAP wrote to Dr Shirley Hendy proposing the establishment of a dedicated S8 clinic, but no response. Dr Pang has offered the cases to Dr Hendy. Again no response.

Minister, are there any other government drug facilities in Darwin we might have missed?

A complaint lodged by the NAP with the NT Medical Board "raised serious health policy issues" but falls outside of their jurisdiction.

In the final analysis, the responsibility for these 40 S8 patients is not with GPs, not specialists, not clinics, not the Pain Clinic, not the RDH and not Dr Pang. The responsibility lies with the statutory responsibilities of Dr Shirley Hendy, the chief health officer responsible to Minister Jane Aagaard who is responsible to the NT Government.

Can you please respond to this at your earliest opportunity, informing us as to the action you are taking regarding the 40 patients of Dr Henry Pang.

Gary Meyerhoff
Ludmilla

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Source: Northern Territory News
Pubdate: 8th August 2002
Authhor: Gary Meyerhoff
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au
Email: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Copyright: 2002 Northern Territory News