Eileen Goodwin

A senior Dunedin medical figure has taken issue with new health minister Dr Jonathan Coleman's ''condescending'' approach towards doctors at the Southern District Health Board.

A claim Waitaki will lose 6% of its population by 2031 has been disputed by Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher.

A sick child who later died was sent home from Dunedin Hospital's emergency department despite a nursing assessment saying it might not be safe, a new report shows.

Some of the new street art adorning buildings in Dunedin's warehouse precinct and the surrounding area has been defaced with graffiti.

Samples collected from Otago Peninsula last week are being tested in Wellington in another bid to find the trigger for an illness threatening yellow-eyed penguin chicks.

Descendants of missionary school Anglo-Indian children who came to New Zealand last century to start new lives have gathered in Dunedin for a reunion.

A fish tank in Dunedin Hospital cost more than $1000 a week to run in its first year.

Surprise and relief have greeted the Government's decision to ditch controversial cost-cutting organisation Health Benefits Ltd.

A clean-out of ''dead wood'' Labour MPs is likely after the election of Andrew Little as leader, politics lecturer Bryce Edwards says.

The Belgian charged with establishing neurosurgical research in Dunedin is using a ''number eight wire'' approach to overcome the logistical difficulty of having no unit in which to work.

About 80% of the South Island patients who need weight-loss surgery are being turned away because of funding constraints, says the Invercargill surgeon who performs half of the South Island's public weight-loss operations.

Being blunt about deaths caused by unsafe practices in health is a crucial step to making systems safer for patients, a former Nasa astronaut says.

Labour Weekend retail sales in Dunedin were mixed, retailers reported.