Increased spending on health research is urgently needed to stop more doctors moving overseas and protect doctor training, the country's two medical schools say.
In a joint report, deputy deans of the University of Otago and Auckland faculties say New Zealand is lagging behind comparable nations and they call for an immediate 20% increase in Health Research Council (HRC) funding.
They also seek annual increments of at least 30% a year for the next five years.
This would redress the erosion of its spending power by inflation over the past two years.
HRC funding of $63 million this year was effectively 25% lower than it was three years ago, as salary increases and rises in research costs had not been matched by extra funding.
Government funding of medical research in New Zealand is one third of that in Australia, one fifth of the United Kingdom's and one tenth of the United States', per head of population, the report says.
Deputy dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Otago and co-author of the report, Prof Peter Joyce, said last night the report had taken about a year to produce and followed concern which had been building for about 10 years.
The messages in it were not new, but there was increasing frustration that they were not being heard.
Prof Joyce said over the next two years the lack of funding would translate into more of the health workforce moving overseas, attracted by better funding and facilities.
"This will not only have a huge impact on the level of care available, but will also affect the ability of the academic sector to train new doctors."
While staff in hospitals and universities had for many years been willing to accept lower pay rates than in other countries, they were much less accepting of the lack of opportunities for research, since they regarded these as a defining part of their professional lives.
Medical professionals leaving for Australia, where there had been recent expansion in the number and size of medical schools, was of particular concern.
Co-author and Auckland University faculty of medical and health sciences deputy dean Prof Ian Reid said Australia had increased its health research spending by 15% a year since 2000, whereas for New Zealand the figure was less than 6%.
To counter the situation, New Zealand needed to prepare for an expansion of health-related academic positions in the tertiary education sector, rather than retrenching, which was effectively what was happening.
Public anxiety regarding the provision of health and medical services, particularly in rural areas, would increase if the situation continued.
The loss of key research groups from health sciences faculties had the potential to substantially weaken the academic standing of both universities, ultimately damaging the international perception of New Zealand as a scientifically credible nation.
The report has been presented to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Research Science and Technology.
One of the difficulties was that two ministries were involved in the issue, he said, and both ministers needed to be more appropriately involved.
Prof Joyce said he was optimistic that greater awareness of the problem would lead to changes.
Nothing might happen this year, given the budget was already set, but it was an election year, and he hoped increased attention would make an impact.
• Health research
Spending per capita in 2007 -
New Zealand - $10.20
Australia - $34.60
United Kingdom - $54.30
United States - $126
*All figures except the United States exclude overheads
- Figures provided by Health Research: a Critical Investment for New Zealand
- Report prepared by faculties of medicine at the University of Otago and Auckland University
