Shane Reti: Health Minister on funding for RAT tests and radiology

The government will purchase an additional 9 million rapid antigen tests (RATs), extending freely available tests by three months. 

Health Minister Shane Reti announced today that nearly $200m of the funding will go towards vaccines and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test processing. 

Health Minister Shane Reti told Jack Tame “I believe Kiwis want to do the right thing and follow their isolations.” 

Reti says “We want to get through this at-risk period. It peaks at mid-year and end-of-year.” 

LISTEN ABOVE. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And the government's buying up more COVID tests so we
can keep getting them for free. Rapid antigen tests RAT
tests will continue to be supplied to the public for
free until the end of September. At the stage the
new rats will be bought with existing COVID nineteen response money.
Shaneretti is the Health Minister and he's with us now
at Kilder.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Now, Greg Ja, very good to speak with you again.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Why do we need to keep handing out free RAT tests?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Look, I know overseas they have had a co payment
put on RAT test, but just at this point in time,
we think if we were to move to that that
would need a more of a transition period than we
have the luxury for at the moment where we've still
got some rising rates of COVID. So the announcement we've
made today is certainly through the winter period and we
know we're at greatest risk, will continue to maintain the

(00:47):
eligibility that we have for free RAT tests.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Is there evidence that people are actually using the free
RAT tests?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh? Look, that is I have seen some evidence of supply,
I say, you know of demand of people actually commenting
that there can be some supplace shoes because the demand
has been high. So the answer to that is yes,
as far as I can tell. Certainly it seems that
people are benefiting from the free reck test.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, right, Are people testing as regularly as they should
be generally?

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Look, it's an interesting question. I don't have any evidence
for that, but I do sense there is certainly an
appetite for New Zealanders to know if these symptoms they've
got are COVID related or not, because I do believe
they want to do the right thing and follow the
isolation recommendations if they are. So that's every sense that
I get.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
So this funding goes through to the end of September,
so that'll cover us for most of winter. If COVID
cases are still tracking pretty high at that point, will
you continue to fund free tests?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, we'll have to review that then. As you say,
we want to get through this at risk period. What
we know is that it's by modal two peaks peak
mid g and end of year. It maintains its normal patterns,
So this will pay through the September, which, if it
follows its last history, would mean we'd be in a
trough in a low incident period. So we'll review that

(02:12):
when we get to.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
That point, how much is this going to cost us?

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Ten million dollars ten million?

Speaker 1 (02:17):
You're spending thirty million on increasing access to radiology services
as well. Just give us a bit of detailed there.
What's actually what we Were's the money going? What I mean?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, So what this will do is it will mean
gps will be able to order ultrasounds and set scans.
And what this means is if there's no capacity in
the public health system in the required timeline for those
cts or ultrasounds, then they'll be referred to private radiology
at no cost to the patient. This will have a
huge range of outcomes. First of all, people will be
able to see specialists with a more definitive diagnosis in

(02:51):
their hands. Secondly, they'll have some reassurance. But even before
they get to the specialist, because there is a bit
of a way time to get the first specialist assessment,
the GP will already have a presumptive diagnosis subsequent to
that radiology, And of course when they get to the specialist,
they've got the information in hand. Because what often happens
at the moment unfortunately, and a good example is ballstones

(03:11):
or kidney stones. I suppose the same is you're referred
to the specialist. You wait the first specialists assessment. Time
you get there, he or she says, I think it's fullstones.
Go in and have an opera sand or a ct.
So you go back into the system, cycle back through,
turn back at the first bucialist assessment or second it
would be with the result in your hand. Well, if
we can cut out one of those, and that's backing

(03:31):
and trusting GPS to have that expertise and knowledge able
to make this call, and the algorithm will help with it,
turn up your first bucious assessment with your presumptive diagnosis
and your X rays in your hand, and it's a
much smoother pathway.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Minister, heading into the election, National promised fifty new places
for students at med schools next year. You're only funding
twenty five. Why is that?

Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's our intention to fund the rest of them over
following budget cycles, but we just didn't have enough in
help to do everything we needed to do. Once we
confronted the one point seven seven billion Farmatcliff that took
a lot of funds out of the system and we
needed to do that clearly, and so we were able
to fund a half of verse fifty and that we'll
be looking to fund the remainder of the following budget cycle.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Wouldn't it be an absolute priority to boost our doctor stocks.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yes, it would, but as we've said before, this is
a seven to ten year plan. If we start people
at metsicol at seven to ten years before they're going
to come out of the other end. Whereas working on
the retention, there are some immigration things we can do.
Those are the here and now issues that we have
the doctor stock, but we sort of wanted to have
the best of both. Grow the long term homegrown domestic
pipeline a bit at the same breast, look at these

(04:42):
other other ways to manage our doctors.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
All right, thanks for your time this evening. That is
Health Minister Shane Bretty. For more from Hither Du plus
Yellen Drive, listen live to news talks it'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.