Nationally, 20,600 patients were overdue and 9500 patients had waited one and a-half times longer than they should. Labour health spokesman David Clark said the situation was unacceptable and dangerous. "These people are entitled to the reassurance that if they have serious eye problems like glaucoma, it’s not worsening and they are not at risk of losing their vision. "The fact that the minister had to wait until it became a media issue is another indictment of his time at the helm." National health spokesman Jonathan Coleman said some boards had a backlog of eye patients and were working to reduce the number.

Source: Otago Daily Times September 24, 2017 16:07 UTC