The search is on to find extra medical staff to fill gaps in the new Covid-19 testing centres opening around the country, as well as filling current vacancies in hospitals.
Medical recruitment company MedWorld - headed by managing director Dr Sam Hazledine, of Queenstown - has joined forces with the Ministry of Health to launch a campaign to help find the workforce needed to fight Covid-19.
''Make no mistake, we are facing the biggest crisis of our time and the demand for trained doctors and nurses will be unprecedented,'' Dr Hazledine said.
''We need all willing and available qualified health professionals to step out of retirement, semi-retirement or extended leave and make themselves available to assist where needed.''
He believed the nation was currently facing "the calm before the storm''.
“How many more doctors and nurses do we need? More, as many as we can find and fast.
''It’s vital we build our staffing capacity before we actually need it, not once it’s too late as we’re seeing in countries like Italy. The coming months are going to be extremely challenging and demanding on our already under-staffed and pressured health system, especially with normal winter illness and its flow-on demand to come. We need to be ready for an emergency situation and build the army before we go into battle, not once the attack is upon us.''
Dr Hazledine said MedWorld reached out to the government and Ministry of Health to offer assistance with the anticipated staffing crisis.
MedWorld was established by Dr Hazledine in 2015 to raise awareness of and support doctor wellbeing. It is a sister company to MedRecruit, launched 14 years ago to specifically handle doctor recruitment.
Queenstown-based, the company is now the largest doctor recruitment company in Australasia with supporting offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast.
Dr Hazledine is an internationally acknowledged leader and author in the field of doctor health and well-being.
He was responsible for successfully lobbying the World Medical Association three years ago to alter and amend the Declaration of Geneva (the modern-day Hippocratic Oath) to now give doctors worldwide permission to focus on their own health and well-being alongside that of their patients.
Qualified doctors and nurses interested in answering the recruitment call are encouraged to go to the MedWorld website, www.medworld.com to register.
MedWorld will guide prospective doctor and nurse recruits through the next stages of the process.
MedRecruit will handle all doctor applicants, with a partner nursing recruitment company assisting with nursing applications.
If already registered, applicants will be mobilised by MedRecruit; doctors and nurses who are not currently registered will be directed through a Ministry of Health portal which was created to help fast-track the re-registration process with assistance from the Medical Council of New Zealand and the Nursing Council of New Zealand.
Dr Hazledine said while the process will be fast and efficient, due care will still be taken to ensure all qualifications, CVs and references are appropriately checked and that all those recruited are fit-for-purpose and work-ready.
MedRecruit will increase its own staffing capacity seven days a week to handle an anticipated increase in enquiries from doctors and nurses wishing to step up.
''This is the challenge our generation has been handed,'' he said.
“It’s our job to rise to that challenge in these unprecedented times for medicine. We need to rally, act and be better together.''
