Fiery response to MP’s hospital opinion piece
MP Rachel Brooking’s hospital opinion piece misses the point. Many points in fact.
I’m sick of government politicians comparing the old and new hospital. What needs to be compared is the new hospital with the government agreed detailed business case (DBC), which was based on analysis of Dunedin’s future health needs. This DBC was built on the needs of our local population for the next 30-40 years. To cut clinical services puts people’s lives at risk.
To say that the new hospital will be marginally better than the old hospital is meaningless. Of course it must be, the current hospital is a mishmash of old buildings, Code Reds and Blacks declared in Emergency Department, often running over 100% occupancy — it’s old and not fit for purpose.
I agree that points 1-4 of MP Brooking’s list need to be assured. Te Whatu Ora doesn’t appear to have solid plans for the future of health care in New Zealand. Thus it’s even more critical we get the best fit-for-purpose hospital built to the specifications and health needs of our region.
Point 5. Workspace. Details show 6.4% cut, -1000sq m. Put it back so hospital staff have decent space to work in.
Point 6. Pathology space. Cut by 850sq m. Put it back so the hospital can function.
Ms Brooking fails to address other issues raised by the chair of the Clinical Transformation Group: the missing MRI scanner, the missing PET scanner, the two missing operating theatres. I also note no mention of the missing link bridge, the 143sq m reduction in pharmacy space, the cutting of bed numbers.
To accuse the over 13,000 people who have signed the petition, plus all the clinicians who have pointed to the holes in the new hospital, of being "intellectually lazy" is jaw-droppingly condescending.
Please government, put back the space and services you’re cutting. Please Dunedin, sign the petition, and get ready to march.
Progress and disagreement
It is ironic that on the day you report the Otago Daily Times has retained its ranking as the most trusted newspaper in the country, in your editorial you condescendingly describe those who do not agree with the "prevailing outlooks" on issues such as the Treaty of Waitangi or gender as "not progressive’. Presumably, it has not occurred to you that these "unprogressives" may actually have a better grasp on reality than the self-appointed arbiters of public opinion you describe, or, at the very least, that their opinions may be legitimate and well founded even though you disagree with them.
AI and education
There has been a call to shut down the schools and universities for a few weeks to assess and respond to the student use of AI in educational assessment.
This might not be a bad idea, as it may well be that warring AI systems will make parts of our digital world, like education, unreliable at best and unusable at worst, at least in the medium term.
However, there is already a way to prevent the use of AI in student assessment: we go back to hand-writing essays under supervision, or use Vivas — where you sit down with a panel of experts to convince them you know your subject.
After all, we are analogue creatures in what is an analogue world, and while analogue means may not be as efficient, they do work reliably.
Hipkins, women, and answering tricky questions
It seems our PM had some difficulty answering a simple question that was asked of him at a press conference on April 3: "Could the PM define what a woman was?"
The PM’s answer, which is now viral on the internet, epitomises the cultish behaviour of a post-modernist woke ideology that is consuming countries around the world. Rather than state the correct answer, biology 101, "an adult human female", Mr Hipkins attempted to explain that gender was about self-identify and he seemed afraid to quote biology for fear of offending.
I fully appreciate that people can and do identify as any large manner of genders with an ever growing list of pronouns, and good on them I say, but please stop trying to hijack the meaning of words or piggy-backing a pretence on a truth. A woman is an absolute of nature and not an abstract of the imagination.
A pro-women woman
Nigel Yates (Letters, 4.4.23) wants to steal "pro-choice" from the women advocating for freedom to control their bodies, and award it to the anti-vax group. However, pro-choice is never the same as anti-anything. Pro-choice means each person can decide for themselves; anti-anything means no-one should (or can) do this. Anti-vax people think no-one should have had the vaccine; anti-abortionists think no-one should have an abortion; anti-trans people think no-one should change their birth gender.
Logically from my argument, pro-women will never be the same thing as anti-trans. Myself (and I suspect many others) are both pro-trans, and pro-woman. Pro-women (or pro-trans), to me, means all women (and all trans) deserve to be respected and listened to.
The importance of recognising a familiar crest
As stated in the Opinion page of the ODT (5.4.23), recognition of crests is an important part of international university academic recognition.
The Mayo Foundation Building, originally the home of Dr and Mrs William J. Mayo, was donated to the famous Mayo Clinic in 1938.
The ballroom is now used as the home base of the Mayo Board of Trustees as well as a meeting and function venue.
At a research group meeting in that prestigious meeting hall some years ago, I scanned the display of crests of many internationally renowned medical schools prominently displayed on its walls. Yes, both the Universities of Cape Town and Otago, my alma maters, were easily recognised amongst them.
It would be a tragedy if that recognition was wiped out for future generations of our Otago graduates. Academic history is created by years of cumulative and dedicated work; it should not be obliterated by a short-sighted decision.
Retiring, not shy
I have been following the proposed coat of arms change at Otago University. Am I the only one who has noticed that contributors to your newspaper opposing this change are almost exclusively (to my knowledge) “retired” Otago University staff? No-one currently employed at Otago dares oppose the anti-tradition juggernaut that rules the roost. Academics fear for their jobs these days and many have learned that resistance is futile. So much for free and frank discussion by those traditionally charged to be the critics and conscience of a democratic society.
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