‘We all sit the same exams’: What people get wrong about targeted admission schemes
Te Tiratū board member Mataroria Lyndon has challenged misconceptions about targeted admission schemes in an interview with The Spinoff, arguing that growing the Māori and Pacific health workforce is essential to addressing persistent health inequities.
A doctor, medical educator and former Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme (MAPAS) student, Lyndon says Māori and Pacific students admitted through targeted pathways sit the same exams and meet the same standards as their peers. He highlights the wider value of a more representative medical workforce, including stronger connections with whānau and communities, greater cultural competence and more Māori doctors working in rural and community settings. While supporting review and improvement of MAPAS, Lyndon says the continued under-representation of Māori and Pacific doctors means there is still a clear need to grow the workforce and ensure Māori and Pacific tauira can succeed once they enter medical school.
Te Aka Whai Ora may be shut down but Māori health leaders are continuing its work
Te Aka Whai Ora may be gone, but the lessons remain. (Design: Tina Tiller).
Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board member Dr Mataroria Lyndon reflects on the enduring importance of Māori leadership in hauora Māori following the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority.
In his opinion piece for The Spinoff, Mataroria shares his reflections as a founding board member of Te Aka Whai Ora and considers the lessons from its short but significant journey.
He writes that while the organisation may have ended, the kaupapa of Māori decision-making, equity and whānau-centred health transformation continues through iwi Māori partnership boards, Whānau Ora commissioning agencies, Māori health providers and communities.
Mataroria says the future of hauora Māori must be built on enduring Māori leadership, strong partnerships and decisions made closer to whānau and communities.
Opinion - The Spinoff
As a doctor, medical educator and iwi health advocate, Mataroria Lyndon has seen how cultural safety transforms health outcomes. The government’s proposal to remove cultural requirements from workforce regulation, he writes, risks undoing decades of progress and putting lives at risk.
