February 28, 2022
RAT grab in test roll out chaos
Te Whānau o Waipareira head John Tamihere is taking aim at Health Ministry Director-General Dr Ashley Bloomfield for the chaotic switch to rapid antigen testing.
Mr Tamihere says RATs should have been built into the Covid management system earlier as a way to prevent widespread panic among the population.
Instead, Dr Bloomfield cast doubt on their accuracy and refused to allow firms to import or deploy them – until last week when they suddenly became the main diagnostic tool.
The result is a shortage of supply and tension on the testing lines – including at Waipareira, which is trying to discourage people from outside West Auckland from coming in for tests.
“Middle-class people are very good at the capture of programmes and what we say out here is we want this for Westies. Furthermore, hoarding is starting to go on – we’ve got problems with hoarding, problems with people coming around, problems with them coming here and then going on to another testing site and perhaps picking more up so there’s a bit of that going on,” Mr Tamihere says.
Mr Tamihere says there seems to be no accountability for the way the Health Ministry has made mistakes, and he wants to see more devolution to the community.