A crowd estimated at up to 35,000 in Dunedin heard speakers slam government misinformation and tell MPs they will be responsible for deaths caused by a hospital downgrade.
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced the main inpatient building of the new hospital could be drastically scaled back, or dumped altogether, in favour of retrofitting the existing one during a visit to Dunedin on Thursday.
As the first part of the protest reached the Octagon, protesters were still waiting to leave the Dental School.
It took about 45 minutes for the march to reach the Octagon and the Dunedin City Council estimated the turnout at up to 35,000 people.
Another march was held in Wānaka.
"This will result in patient deaths. There's no if buts or maybes. It will just be a simple matter of time when that happens. I want it today to be very clear on whose shoulders the responsibility for that sits."
"The threat to the health of those of us here and our future loved ones is very real," she said.
"Our hospital community are shocked and disappointed at this week's news," Dr Sheila Barnett, a Dunedin anaesthetic doctor and clinical transformation group chair for the new hospital, told the crowd.
"Our team have worked for seven years balancing busy clinical jobs, providing common sense clinical input, and many of us have lived and breathed this project.
"There has been a lot of give and take, but the final design we had was balanced and it reflected what the southern region would need in the decades ahead. I know that what we have designed would have worked.
"We don't know yet what the next few months will look like."
"We are standing up against divide and rule based on this misinformation. We are told that other regional hospitals upgrades will miss out if Dunedin gets the hospital. Even the regions don't accept this. They were in Parliament saying, This is bulls***.
"We will fight until we get what we promised. We will not wait for justice to be done. The government has taken away from the people. It is time for us to take it back. Build it right."
The protest, sparked by concern over cuts to the crucial project, gained momentum since the government's shock announcement on Thursday that the project faces a significant downgrade.
She had voted for National in last year's general election and labelled Thursday's announcement "appalling".
"We need it built, and built properly."
His sign said "Pay our nurses properly now".
"Buildings don't cure people - people cure people," Mr Moffat said.
Joanna Inch, of Fairfield, attended the march with her 13-year-old daughter Ruby-Mae.
She said her father had once needed to wait four years to have a knee surgery at the hospital and called the downgrade "absolutely appalling".
"We need to make sure they do see that number."
John Howell, of North East Valley, said building the hospital was a matter of priorities.
The government was "completely full of s***" and was turning their back on its promise.
"They need to build this hospital, as originally promised".
The government has been accused of broken promises after the "entirely unacceptable" scaling back of the new hospital.
Govt remains committed to new hospital: Reti
In a statement today, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said:
“I absolutely recognise the passion of New Zealanders when it comes to delivery of health services, and that was reflected in Dunedin today.
“There’s always been an extremely high degree of public interest in this large and complex piece of infrastructure, and while this week’s announcement was not an easy one to make, it had to be done to ensure we can deliver in Dunedin, and across the rest of the country’s hospital network as well.
“I want to assure the people of Dunedin and the South that Health New Zealand and ministers are fully committed to making sure we deliver long overdue solutions to their region’s health infrastructure needs.
”The government remains committed to building a new hospital in Dunedin.”
