Healthcare in New Zealand

Healthcare System in New Zealand

New Zealand was one of the premier countries in the world to offer all its citizens universal healthcare, with the government assuming responsibility for funding and delivering the majority of medical services.

However, like majority of countries that have implemented free healthcare in their agenda, the idea of a free-market is too tempting to deny. This has led to two-tier health system of public and private care. The private system mainly caters to foreigners and wealthy citizens offering them specialized treatments, while the mass population utilizes the overburdened and inadequate public facilities.

Quality of Healthcare in New Zealand

The well developed healthcare system has ensured that hospitals and clinics in New Zealand have the highest quality of healthcare.  Many of the private hospitals are internationally benchmarked and comply with foreign regulations and standards. The surgeons in New Zealand are trained both in New Zealand and abroad, usually spending years of their training in either North America or Western Europe.

Even though the private hospitals lack JCI accreditation, many medical facilities in New Zealand are accredited by the national accreditation agency Quality Health New Zealand (QHNZ). QHNZ, like JCI, is a member of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare or ISQua.