Eileen Goodwin

A Dunedin neurosurgeon has made an emotional plea for New Zealand to provide a safe haven for his fellow Syrians. Dr Ahmad Taha helped three of his siblings and their families escape the conflict and gain residency. All have settled in Dunedin.

For decades, the colourful murals in the Children's Pavilion at Dunedin Hospital injected a playful element into an otherwise austere atmosphere.

Midwives have great job satisfaction, but the pay for lead maternity carers is making it unviable, Dunedin midwife Prue Thomson says.

Protesters jostled with police last night as they tried to disrupt a National Party fundraising event in Dunedin.

An activity centre for some of Dunedin's most vulnerable people might be forced to close at the end of this year if its funding crisis is not solved.

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce's refusal to meet medical students over the student loan cap is ''extremely disappointing'', New Zealand Medical Students' Association president Elizabeth Berryman says.

The axe fell on the Southern District Health Board this week, its board members and chairman dismissed because of the organisation's financial troubles, and replaced by a commissioner, Dunedin legal consultant Kathy Grant. Health reporter Eileen Goodwin looks at how things got to this point.

A ''Sword of Damocles'', in the form of an aortic aneurysm that could rupture anytime, hangs over heart surgery patient Wallace Faulds, his wife, Glennys, says.

Patients have been waiting in corridors in the Dunedin Hospital emergency department as it copes with an influx that is stressing the entire hospital.

Dunedin oncologist Chris Jackson has been appointed to a national role at the Cancer Society as medical director.

An elderly couple sustained minor injuries in a crash in central Dunedin which caused significant traffic disruption today.

Patients at Dunedin Hospital may face longer waits because the hospital is struggling with winter illness.