The country desperately needed more neurosurgeons, Ahmad Taha said yesterday.
Patients in the South were particularly at risk, and he called on the Government to help.
''It is alarming, and I keep saying in many meetings that New Zealand has to be proactive, not reactive.''
In 10 years' time, up to 40% of the country's 22 neurosurgeons would either be retired or have left the country, and there would be no-one to cover their loss.
Training a New Zealander to consultant standard would take 10 to 15 years.
''This is a big problem,'' Syrian-born Mr Taha said yesterday.
''We need definite help.
''We need people to come here and work in Dunedin, but it takes two years to employ somebody from overseas and retain them here with the current requirements on [sic] the Medical Council under immigration,'' Mr Taha said.
New Zealand had difficulty employing and retaining surgeons from overseas, Mr Taha, the only neurosurgeon employed by the Southern District Health Board, said.
The country did not have the medical support it should have, Mr Taha said.
The lifestyle in Australia and better salaries made it more attractive to work there.
''It is difficult to continue doing my job without having support. Christchurch are doing what they can, but it's not going to be enough or sufficient to prevent people from having serious problems here.
''If I go tomorrow, I don't think there will be any reasonable plan to cover the unit from Christchurch.
''It's a fact that everybody knows. Time is crucial in neurosurgery and with the weather in New Zealand it can stop flights many times and this will affect patients' care.''
He had a big workload, but there was no other choice.
''Either I do my job, or people will lose lives, or they'll lose body functions.''
He had to be called in sometimes when he was off-duty, and if he was out of town then patients had to travel to Christchurch, which was ''definitely a risk''.
While the job and its workload had been tough, saving lives had been the most rewarding thing about his work, Mr Taha said.
''When I see somebody that has woken up after being unconscious from a blood clot, and when I see somebody that I have done an aneurysm surgery on and they have survived, and you see the family and how much they are grateful, I don't think any feeling in the world can match that.
''The best gift I had here was from a guy, a GP from Wellington, who gave me the New Zealand flag three years ago because I saved his son after he fell and had a head injury.
''You know, I felt at that time, I'm really part of this society. I'm really one of you. And people have said to me 'You are one of us'.''
He called on neurosurgeons around the world to come to New Zealand to work.
''This is the place where people need you, even for like five years or a few years of somebody's life.
''Come to save these people because they do deserve to have excellent service.''
-By Indira Stewart
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Comments
Whilst recruiting neurosurgeons to New Zealand is not a straight forward process and is under discussion by the College and at training level, Dr Taha is incorrect in saying that New Zealand/Australian trained Neurosurgeons have not returned to New Zealand to work. In fact both Auckland and Christchurch have had appointees from our scheme in recent times. The problem is related to surgeons in our own system not wanting to work in the unit in Dunedin and in fact the other two appointees that were employed in Dunedin after the review in 2010/11 have left that clinical practice or moved to another unit because of the lack of job satisfaction leaving Dr Taha on his own.
It is also completely incorrect to say that the Christchurch unit does not support the service in Dunedin and that we could not cope with there NOT being a neurosurgeon there. The clinical director of the South Island Neurosurgical Service is in fact from Christchurch and spends a significant amount of time daily in dealing with issues in Dunedin. Clinically, paediatric, skull base and complex vascular conditions from Dunedin have always been managed in Christchurch.
Furthermore, as Dr Taha is working on his own in both the Public and Private sector, we in Christchurch have supported him with call cover whenever he has completed his quota of call or needs leave for conference or personal reasons. During this time we cover Dunedin, just like we would other cities and towns in the South Island including the West Coast, Nelson/Marlborough (together with Wellington), Blenheim, Central Otago for certain cases and North and South Canterbury. It is professionally and financially unrealistic to have units in every town or city in both the North and South Island of New Zealand. This will lead to a weak and fragmented service with major staffing issues.
Finally, the issue around safety of patients with neurosurgical conditions does not revolve as much around the transport of patients (although clearly in wider New Zealand this can be somewhat troublesome) but rather with the employment of surgeons that do not meet the standard that New Zealanders deserve. If the population of the Southern region wants to be informed as to the full extend of the issues there, they should insist on obtaining all the facts from their administrators and surgeons.
It's almost disgusting how he is the only neurosurgeon in the deep south, this needs to be taken very seriously and made a priority - do the paperwork later, just get these extra neurosurgeon's here!