Doctors, lawmakers warn of TPP assault on New Zealand health system

Health professionals and opposition lawmakers Tuesday accused the New Zealand government of selling out the country's public health system in order to secure the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.

The accusations came after Prime Minister John Key admitted that some medicines were likely to cost more under the 12-nation TPP when the country accedes to the stringent patent provisions of the United States.

Under the terms, New Zealand's government pharmaceutical buying agency Pharmac, which negotiates cheap often generic medicines, will have to respect the patents of major U.S. drug firms.

Key told Radio New Zealand that the deal was still in the country's best interests despite the probability that some medicines would cost more.

"That means the government will have to pay for the original drug rather than the generic for a little bit longer," Key said.

Key said the public would still pay the same guaranteed prescription cost, a claim that was derided as "disingenuous" by main opposition Labour Party leader Andrew Little.

"Who does he think taxpayers are? Any extension of drug patents will inevitably lead to less medicines being available to New Zealanders, including biologics, the latest in cancer drugs," Little said in a statement.

"Pharmac's purchasing power has saved New Zealanders more than 7 billion NZ dollars (4.65 billion U.S. dollars) since 2000. Multi- national pharmaceutical companies will be cheering at this news and New Zealand taxpayers are the ones losing out."

The opposition Green Party called on the government "to immediately withdraw from the dead-end deal."

"The government needs to tell the New Zealand public how Pharmac's going to suddenly find millions of dollars to fund these more expensive medicines without passing those costs on to everyday Kiwis at the pharmacy counter," Green Party health spokesperson Kevin Hague said in a statement.

"We should be protecting our public health system, not selling it down the river for a trade agreement that's going to line the pockets of overseas corporations."

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) and the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) both reiterated their call for the government to conduct an independent assessment of the TPP 's impact on health.

"The reality is that it will impose extra costs on an already cash-strapped health system that is struggling to make ends meet. Of course it will have an effect, and patients will suffer when the health system has to absorb even more expense as a result," ASMS executive director Ian Powell said in a statement.

"This whole process has been shrouded in secrecy and that's not good enough when the deal being cobbled together is clearly going to have far-reaching consequences for New Zealand and our central medicines-buying agency, Pharmac."

NZMA chair Dr Stephen Child said an independent assessment should also look at the effect of the investor-state dispute mechanism, which allows corporations to sue governments over policies and legislation that infringe on their profits.

"Before New Zealand commits to an agreement, we must ensure our ability to achieve legitimate public policy objectives such as the protection of public health, safety and the environment is protected," Child said in a statement.

Documents published by Wikileaks last month showed Pharmac was being targeted as anti-competitive by U.S. drug companies.

The proposed agreement would require Pharmac to make its purchasing decisions more transparent and open those decisions to legal challenges.

Trade ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the TPP are meeting in Hawaii this week trying to put the finishing touches on the deal. Endi