Health services in the South will come under pressure from migrant workers who might not be able to pay, Venture South settlement support co-ordinator Sue Morrison-Bailey says.
She will be addressing the Otago and Southland district health boards community and public health committee in Invercargill tomorrow to raise issues surrounding health care for migrants.
The numbers of workers expected to come to the South for the dairy and tourism industries in the next couple of years could run to thousands, if an expected further 100 farm conversions to dairying went ahead, she said.
"It's quite an urgent problem."
Some migrant workers could incur large medical bills because they did not qualify for subsidies available to people registered with primary health organisations (PHOs).
They did, however, qualify for accident cover under ACC.
She had heard of instances where someone was charged $125 to see a doctor and a woman who had given birth was required to pay between $4000 and $5000.
It was not only a problem in Southland.
She had heard of a woman in Nelson being asked to pay a bill of $30,000 because she had a premature baby.
Those people who have work permits and are eligible to be in New Zealand for less than two years do not qualify for a health service subsidy.
Migrants did not have that sort of money, she said.
Southland District Health Board interim chief operating officer Leanne Samuel said migrants coming to the area without insurance or ability to pay for care when ill did increase the financial risk to boards.
It was something which sponsoring employers should be aware of and advise their prospective employees about.
She agreed it could be expensive to pay for hospital stays.
Overnight in a surgical ward would cost $1100 and in critical care or intensive care, the cost was $2000.
Most of the people coming to work on dairy farms were young, fit and healthy.
Barring accidents, health services were not likely to see them often.
Maternity services did not appear to be under pressure from migrant births.
However, acting director of nursing and midwifery Isabel Radka said the number of Southland births this financial year was expected to be 70 higher and this was challenging the board's ability to provide care.
