May 23, 2022
Plenty of pūtea for Māori health growth
Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare says there’s a lot more available for Māori health than the Budget allocation of $188 million over four years.
That money was tagged for direct commissioning of services and to support the Iwi-Māori partnership boards that will add a layer of governance to the new system.
Mr Henare says, there is still significant pūtea leftover from the authority’s start-up allocation, and about $1.2 billion in the overall system which could be used for Maori services.
“While I know there’s a focus on the money for commissioning for the Māori Health Authority there is actually a heck of a lot of money already in the system that will allow the Māori Health Authority and Health NZ to grow that commissioning capacity over the coming years,” he says.
Other spending includes $166 million to be shared among the three Whānau Ora commissioning agencies, $30 million to build on work done by Māori providers to tackle Covid-19 and $39 million for health training and development.