Cataract inquiry referred to Commerce Commission

The Minister of Health, Bill English, announced today that the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of cataract operations in Southland had been referred to the Commerce Commission for investigation.

On 8 January 1997 Mr English requested an inquiry by the Ministry of Health into the circumstances surrounding the cancellation on Christmas Eve of a contract for 130 cataract operations. The operations were to have been performed by an Australian surgeon, Dr Michael Silva, at Southern Health.

"The result of the Ministry of Health's inquiry is that the matter has been referred to the Commerce Commission. The Commission has begun investigating the matter under the Commerce Act 1986.

"The Ministry is still pursuing other aspects of the inquiry, including registration procedures by the Medical Council of New Zealand. I have also asked the Ministry to produce a set of guidelines covering the use of specialists for one-off Waiting Times Fund work," said Mr English.