The Southern District Health Board signage at Southland Hospital. Access to colonoscopies in the Southern District Health Board, which covers Southland and Otago, has been a recurring issue and the subject of four reviews in as many years. Earlier this month, Southern DHB said there were 152 Southland patients on the colonoscopy waiting list, with 435 patients on the waiting list for follow-up or surveillance colonoscopies. A lack of access to modern medicine was also hampering specialists’ ability to treat patients, Schultz said, noting that non-life threatening diseases could often be treated effectively without invasive procedures. The Southern DHB employed six of these specialists – or 1.8 gastroenterologists for every 100,000 people – in 2017.

Source: Stuff July 30, 2020 06:11 UTC