April 11, 2022
Bloomfield impact on Māori neither here nor there
A mixed review for outgoing Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.
Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency and Waipareira chief executive John Tamihere say Dr Bloomfield will step down in July with Pakeha communities thinking he did a very good job through the pandemic.
But he says the nation’s top doc did not measure up when it came to keeping Maori healthy.
“The way in which his management played out relegated us to second class citizenship that had to fix ourselves up in very difficult circumstances, but his legacy plays out in our tamariki vaccination rates,” Mr Tamihere says.
He wishes Dr Bloomfield and his whanau well, but his departure won’t make Maori better or worse off.