The chief executive of Pharmac says different ideas have emerged from a series of public forums held to discuss the drug-buying agency's criteria for the allocation of pharmaceutical funding.
At a public forum in Tauranga on Friday, Steffan Crausaz said different issues have been raised at the eight meetings that have already taken place, such as " looking at evidence, making sure what we do is really well supported, and also thinking around some themes about different types of ethical positions that could be taken when funding medicines".
Mr Crausaz says Pharmac's work has changed since the criteria were first put in place.
A Morrinsville man who attended the Tauranga forum is questioning Pharmac's emphasis on cost-effectiveness. Vince Ashworth, whose daughter contracted a rare blood disease, says the agency refused to fund a drug for his daughter because of the cost.
"The question arises, has Pharmac got a particular figure on people's lives," Mr Ashworth says, "because what it is currently proposing to do is to turn down funding for a drug for eight people in desperate need. It's actually saying to these people 'Sorry, your lives are not worth saving' and it's as serious as that."
There are two more community forums to be held: one in Whangarei on 13 August and the other in Hokitika on 27 August.
