Philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn in February 2017 pledged the gift for a proposed Waikato medical school, saying he liked “how the primary focus was on community healthcare in high needs communities”.
However, Sir Owen has told Waikato University vice-chancellor Neil Quigley by email that he is “disappointed that Labour had discounted the proposal,” accusing them of being “short-sighted and political”.
“Nothing will change” while politicians serve their own re-election interests instead of the interests of the communities that elect them, he said.
Health Minister David Clark told Parliament in late February that the Government was “still exploring proposals for a third medical school”, but he declined to elaborate.
Asked by National’s health spokesman Jonathan Coleman if he had instructed the health ministry on a rural medical school, Clark replied, “It’s not in the public interest to give further information on that matter.”
The rural medical school is proposed as a joint project by The University of Waikato and the Waikato District Health Board.
Their aim is to to get more doctors into provincial and rural regions.
In response, Otago and Auckland universities pitched a rival bid to create a national school of rural health.
