Wellington to get new children’s hospital

Forums › Health and fitness › Wellington to get new children’s hospital

kingdragonfly

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#217726 10-Jul-2017 13:18

From the CCDHB Chief executive

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Hello everyone

I am thrilled to announce the building of a new $50 million children’s hospital at Wellington Regional Hospital, thanks to the kindness and generosity of Wellington property developer Mark Dunajtschik.

Mr Dunajtschik will pay for and build the new hospital, and gift it to Capital & Coast DHB.

I never dreamed that I would ever be announcing that someone is actually gifting us a new children’s hospital, and it is incredibly exciting and humbling that Mr Dunajtschik is doing just that. This gift will benefit children and families across the lower half of the North Island.

As some of you may know, there have been many attempts over the years to get a new children’s hospital across the line, including when the regional hospital was built.

This generous offer will allow us to do so much more when planning our future child health services and will be far more functional – not to mention comfortable – for patients, their families and staff.

And not only are we getting a new hospital, but the Wellington Hospitals Foundation will also support the project by fundraising for extra furniture, fittings and equipment required for the new hospital.

Staff will be actively involved in designing the new hospital, and we expect it to be built within three years once the designs are finalised and resource consent is granted.

Our thanks again to Mr Dunajtschik for his kindness and generosity for the children in our region.

Debbie Chin
Chief executive

BlueShift

1692 posts

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#1818806 10-Jul-2017 13:41

It is a lovely gesture from someone who, I'm sure is a very kind man. But it is a damning indictment on government health policy when they would rather offer a tiny election bribe tax cut then properly finance our health system so we don't need charitable handouts from wealthy individuals. Obviously he is being taxed far too much if he has a spare 50 million lying around.

surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#1818829 10-Jul-2017 13:52

BlueShift:

It is a lovely gesture from someone who, I'm sure is a very kind man. But it is a damning indictment on government health policy when they would rather offer a tiny election bribe tax cut then properly finance our health system so we don't need charitable handouts from wealthy individuals. Obviously he is being taxed far too much if he has a spare 50 million lying around.

I don't believe in politicising such a benevolent act. It is what it is.

You could also say, what kind of system do we have where a single man can amass enough money to give away 50 million dollars.

Or, what a great tax system we have which encourages such a man to acheive great personal success.

Not really much point .

vexxxboy

4244 posts

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#1818873 10-Jul-2017 14:24

who funds it after it is built.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

MikeAqua

7782 posts

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#1818878 10-Jul-2017 14:32

He is donating the building to the DHB on completion. So they will be responsible for opex, R&M, rates etc.

It's a great idea for the region. Closer than the Starship for a whole bunch of families.

It's an incredibly generous act.

The guy could have spent the money on booze and women of easy affection if he wanted to.

Mike

mattwnz

20157 posts

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#1818942 10-Jul-2017 15:43

Yes a very generous act. The fact though, is that if this was needed, it should have already been built, so it doesn't appear there was previously the funding for it. If people and companies all paid their fair share of taxes in NZ, we should have already have had enough money to built one.

We shouldn't be relying on handouts to pay for essential infrastructure.

MikeAqua

7782 posts

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#1818969 10-Jul-2017 16:33

mattwnz:

Yes a very generous act. The fact though, is that if this was needed, it should have already been built, so it doesn't appear there was previously the funding for it. If people and companies all paid their fair share of taxes in NZ, we should have already have had enough money to built one.

We shouldn't be relying on handouts to pay for essential infrastructure.

Govt could spend all its revenue ten time over on essential infrastructure and be nowhere near done.

I find it bewildering that you wish to place a negative spin on such a positive thing.

Mike

shk292

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#1818990 10-Jul-2017 17:21

MikeAqua:

Govt could spend all its revenue ten time over on essential infrastructure and be nowhere near done.

I find it bewildering that you wish to place a negative spin on such a positive thing.

Agreed - there is always more to spend public money on, especially in the health sector. This reminds me of those who complain that we have a volunteer fire service and say this should be "properly funded" so we don't have to rely on volunteers. I think it's fantastic that people will give their time - and gain enjoyment - by doing good voluntarily, equally it is fantastic that this donor has been successful enough in life that he can give $50M for this cause.

What sort of person would rather everything public was paid for with money taken involuntarily from people, than by willing donations?

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mattwnz

20157 posts

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#1818993 10-Jul-2017 17:30

MikeAqua:

Govt could spend all its revenue ten time over on essential infrastructure and be nowhere near done.

I don't believe that is the case, otherwise we wouldn't be having tax cuts in the near future, which indicates that the government are collecting more than they need. There is a big difference between 'essential infrastructure', and 'like to haves'. Obviously they could spend a lot more on 'like to haves' but they are not essentials, like this sort of thing, which it appears they have been trying to get for many years! I just think it sets a bad precedent to rely on generous wealthy benefactors, and I am not the only one who has posted on here that feels this, especially as they claim the current one isn't fit for purpose. Just watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnRjnWQZp2A

But I do thank the generous benefactor who has been able to get this across the line, and it is great that he actually wants to build it, rather than just pay for it.

mattwnz

20157 posts

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#1818995 10-Jul-2017 17:35

shk292:

What sort of person would rather everything public was paid for with money taken involuntarily from people, than by willing donations?

That is probably based on where you base yourselves on the political spectrum. Publicly funded is more like insurance, where everyone pays into a pool, and hopefully you will rarely need it. Whereas some people are for everything to be 'user pays', and to minimise the taxes that are paid. So they also may pay for health insurance, on top of the taxes they pay (which essentially means they are paying twice). If everyone paid their fair share of tax, we wouldn't have as much need for 'Charity / Donations'. However there is a ever growing divide in NZ between rich an poor which has only gotten worse in the last 10 years. Especially with the housing crisis, and there is quite a lot of people in NZ really wanting this to change, and we are less than 80 days to the election, so it is very topical....

shk292

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#1819180 10-Jul-2017 21:04

mattwnz:

That is probably based on where you base yourselves on the political spectrum. Publicly funded is more like insurance, where everyone pays into a pool, and hopefully you will rarely need it. Whereas some people are for everything to be 'user pays', and to minimise the taxes that are paid. So they also may pay for health insurance, on top of the taxes they pay (which essentially means they are paying twice). If everyone paid their fair share of tax, we wouldn't have as much need for 'Charity / Donations'. However there is a ever growing divide in NZ between rich an poor which has only gotten worse in the last 10 years. Especially with the housing crisis, and there is quite a lot of people in NZ really wanting this to change, and we are less than 80 days to the election, so it is very topical....

I totally agree with the need for public health care. You just need to look at how expensive and unfair it is in the USA...

But health is a bottomless pit in terms of spending, and I don't believe the line between "essential" and "nice to have" is easy/possible to define. The same number of people will die if we spend 2x or 5x current levels.

I think the NZ tax system is quite fair (OT here I guess) - but I agree there are those that slip through the net. I'm not so convinced about the increasing equality - the graph here (http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-social-indicators/Home/Standard%20of%20living/income-inequality.aspx) shows it hasn't varied significantly for the last 20 years or so.

It will definitely be an interesting election!