health services

The news that the breast of a healthy Otago woman was removed by mistake after breast biopsy specimens were accidentally swapped is lamentable in the extreme. That this type of drastic, life-changing surgery was performed in error will come as a nasty surprise to the general public and send a jolt through the medical profession.

Waitaki District Health Services is "in good heart and on track" for a successful year, chairman George Berry says.

Departing Southern District Health Board chairman Errol Millar says he is concerned the debate over the future of Wakatipu health services is taking place in the media instead of the various interested parties "getting into a room together and working out a common sense solution".

Huge pressure on health services could result from expected increases in prisoner numbers at the Otago Corrections Facility in Milburn, Dr Branko Sijnja says.