Andrew Dickens Afternoons

The Government is investing almost $30 million into maternity services.Minister of Health David Clark has made the announcement at a Health Select Committee meeting .The $29.7 million package is part of Budget 2019 and its wider four billion dollar health package.Clark says it will continue the investment into community midwives.It comes as amid growing criticism aimed at the government over the closure of the Lumsden maternity centre, which has led to numerous reports of women having to give birth in less than ideal circumstances.Earlier today, the New Zealand Herald reported that 90 per cent of maternity wards in New Zealand hospitals have no senior doctors or consultants on site at night.A midwife and a Lumsden local whose wife had two difficult births shared their takes on these latest developments with Andrew Dickens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.