Dunedin will have four resident neurosurgeons, three of them with academic duties, and the future of the service in Dunedin is secure, the University of Otago says.
Health sciences pro-vice-chancellor Prof Peter Crampton said recruitment for two academic neurosurgeons was under way.
Prof Crampton released a statement in response to questions from the Otago Daily Times about changes in the service.
''The future of both the academic and the clinical components of neurosurgery in Dunedin are secure.
''Prof Dirk De Ridder has reduced his clinical commitments to the DHB, while retaining his position with the university as the inaugural appointee to the Neurological Foundation Chair in Neurosurgery.
''The university has committed to supporting two further joint clinical neurosurgical appointments who will provide the necessary clinical services for the DHB.
''The appointment process for these two positions is under way. As a result of these changes Dunedin will in the future have four resident neurosurgeons, including the Professor of Neurosurgery,'' Prof Crampton said.
In 2012, a fundraising campaign supported by the ODT raised more than $3 million for an endowment fund for the Chair in Neurosurgery.
The two-hub South Island service was designed to have three neurosurgeons in Dunedin, two of them with academic roles at the university.
Academic neurosurgeon Reuben Johnson left Dunedin this year, and more recently Prof De Ridder said he was scaling down his clinical work.
