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NEW ZEALAND: Health Website Under Fire Aug 5, 2004 The Ministry of Health has come under fire from patient groups for endorsing a website they claim raises false hopes. The ministry has paid $20,000 to give New Zealanders free access to the website, run by the prestigious British Medical Journal, for six months which gives consumers information about treatments for numerous health conditions. But it has raised the ire of patient groups. The Alzheimers, Parkinsons and Epilepsy societies say the site recommends drugs which are not funded here. Drugs like aricept, reminyl and exelon for Alzheimers which are available but at a cost of $200-300 a month. "It is best treatments. But it's like looking through a catalogue and knowing you can't get it," Florence Leota of the Alzheimer's Foundation NZ said. Parkinsons New Zealand said patients will end up confused and disappointed. "The irony is that the government is suggesting New Zealanders use this website and use the advice on this website, yet isn't allowing New Zealanders to access the advice," Dierdre O'Sullivan of Parkinson's New Zealand said. But the ministry says the information is available freely on the internet anyway and all it has done is provide free access to it. "This is information for patients so they can have a good informed discussion with their general practitioner or nurse and we're committed to giving that information," Dr Colin Feek of the ministry said. The ministry denies its raising false hope and said it is simply offering patients options and will re-evaluate it at the end of the six month trial. SOURCE: TVNZ, New Zealand http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_health_story_skin/440318%3fformat=html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn