April 05, 2015
Waikato DHB joins sore throat scheme
Tamariki Maori across the Waikato with sore throats will be able to get rapid free treatment in a new initiative aimed at preventing rheumatic fever.
The Waikato District Health Board Sore Throat Management service will be available at medical centres and general practices across Waikato, as well as through school based health services/clinics at many lower decile secondary schools.
It’s free to all 4-19 year old Maori and Pacific children from the DHB district.
Rheumatic fever, which can cause heart damage, can develop from untreated sore throats.
Phase one of the Waikato campaign includes 51 general practices belonging to the Midlands Health Network as well as 14 school based health services in secondary schools.
Joining them through April will be ten general practices from Hauraki PHO and three general practices from National Hauora Coalition.
Phase two services, planned for May, will bring on board more than 30 pharmacies, PathLab and two after-hours medical clinics in Hamilton.
Health Minister Jonathon Coleman says it means there are now more than 200 drop in clinics in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Rotorua, Gisborne/East Coast, Porirua and the Hutt Valley, with Hawke’s Bay District Health Board joining the initiative soon.
“This will mean that more than 200,000 young people in high-risk areas w
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