Fwd: NZ changes laws to prepare for flu pandemic

[Guest guest]

Thank goodness for the the power of Quarantine; trouble is, nobody has

the flu but chickens, it's difficult to spread (human-to human almost

literally impossible), quarantine doesn't work and never has worked, and

more people in New Zealand die of lightning or sharks or jellyfish; bad

dream, I guess. Beware the needle, Rose

 

Govt changes laws to prepare for flu pandemic

06 April 2006 By KENT ATKINSON

Law changes to help the Government cope with an influenza pandemic

were announced today, making pandemic influenza a disease for which

people, buildings, and towns can be quarantined.

The Law Reform (Epidemic Preparedness) Bill was due to be introduced

to Parliament later today, Health Minister Pete Hodgson said.

 

Much of it would be centred on allowing the Prime Minister to issue a

Gazette notice declaring the effects of an outbreak of an infectious

disease were likely to disrupt essential governmental and business

activity in part or whole of the nation.

Such a Gazette notice would trigger actions such as:

 

Enable quarantine powers at the border;

 

Clarify the emergency powers available to medical officers of health

and provide extra powers police to enforce those powers;

 

Remove the need for 24 months for Resource Management Act consents

for emergency treatment centres, or mass graves;

 

Provide temporary relief from use-of-money interest and penalties for

taxpayers, relax rules for visitor's visas, probation, and benefits

and provide emergency benefits for people who would not usually be

entitled;

 

Change deaths registration law so that doctors and some nurses can

issue death certificates without seeing the patient before death.

 

" If a pandemic reaches New Zealand, we will have to be ready to deal

with some of the most serious social and economic challenges we've

faced in over a generation, " Mr Hodgson said in a statement.

 

He said the legislation introduced today would only be used in a

major emergency, and mostly involved amendments to the Health Act to

cover the need to update and clarify quarantine powers.

 

But it also covered non-health legislation, including changes to the

Social Security Act and the Holidays Act, so that employers could

require workers to take leave.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3629689a11,00.html

 

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