December 03, 2021
Pharmac fails on equity commitment
An independent review of the government drug buying agency Pharmac has slammed its poor progress on equity issues and a fortress mentality that makes it hard to understand its decision-making.
While the agency says it wants to support Māori participation in governance, leadership and decision-making at all levels, just four of its 146 staff are Māori – about 2 per cent, well short of the 16.5 per cent that would be expected if its workforce matched the overall population.
There was a sense Pharmac was not working to achieve equitable outcomes from the perspective of Māori and Pacific peoples or other disadvantaged populations.
It looks at medicines in an isolated way and does not consider the shortcomings of the overall health and disability system which have a particular impact on Māori.
The interim report outlines some of the issues the review panel has found, but it says the agency refused to give it some of the information it needed.
A final report including recommendations is due early next year.