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Speaker 1: So we start with Samian Brown health Minister who's with us.

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Speaker 1: Snickeler willis on holiday. This week we have Simion Brown

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Speaker 1: good evening, Good evening, Ryan, Good to have you on

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Speaker 1: the show. Minister. So you're doing a bit of a

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Speaker 1: governance rejig health in z First of all, why are

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Speaker 1: you keeping less delivery on for another month? Another twelve months?

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Speaker 2: This is about making sure we have a continuity of

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Speaker 2: leadership at Health New Zealand. The organization's going through a

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Speaker 2: reset in terms of its making sure it's refocused back

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Speaker 2: on patients and focused on delivery of our five health targets.

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Speaker 2: He's been our commissioner over the last twelve months and

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Speaker 2: has been instrumental in terms of bringing that refocus back

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Speaker 2: to the organization. And his role now is to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we continue to stabilize Health New Zealand so

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Speaker 2: it can continue to focus on getting those weightless under control,

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Speaker 2: ensuring patients can get the treatment they need in a

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Speaker 2: more timely body manner, and make sure that the organizations

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Speaker 2: are delivering within budget. But we've also, alongside him, appointed

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Speaker 2: a range of board members who will work along signe

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Speaker 2: him to bring that focus for patients to this organization.

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Speaker 1: Is it possible he could go beyond the twelve months

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Speaker 1: or are you done with them after that?

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Speaker 2: He's agreed to do another twelve months.

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Speaker 1: We will be.

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Speaker 2: A long term cheer later this year to replace Lester

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Speaker 2: from the middle of next years. Done. He has he

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Speaker 2: has done a good job in terms of bringing that

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Speaker 2: focus back to the organization of patients, putting the focus

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Speaker 2: on patients, delivering within budget, and making sure that we

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Speaker 2: are achieved, working towards achieving our health targets and the

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Speaker 2: work that you know we announced last week around the

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Speaker 2: elective's boost, delivering more elective treatments or patients. That's you know,

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Speaker 2: the hip knees and cataract operations. That is the work

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Speaker 2: that he has been delivering for us, and that is

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Speaker 2: meaning that we're starting to see those weight times and

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Speaker 2: those weight lists actually reduced for.

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Speaker 1: Patients and needing those treatments. He's been delivering them through

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Speaker 1: the private sector, I suppose.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, well, his role is to make sure we're

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Speaker 2: unlocking and unlock and care for patients, whether that's through

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Speaker 2: the public system, private system. My focus on hates get

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Speaker 2: the treatment they need, the timely quality.

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Speaker 1: Man fair enough, Now what faith confidence do you have

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Speaker 1: in Health New Zealand when you simultaneously appoint a board

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Speaker 1: also and a Crown observer.

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Speaker 2: Look, the key thing here is we need to make

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Speaker 2: sure this organization is delivering within its budget. It is

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Speaker 2: going through a time of change as we re establish

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Speaker 2: board governance, and this is about making sure that the

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Speaker 2: government continues to keep a particularly close eye around how

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Speaker 2: Health New Zealand's delivering within its budget and also against

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Speaker 2: those target measures. And so honey, Order Balcott, it has

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Speaker 2: been a point as a Crown observer. It's not unusual

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Speaker 2: for Crown observers to be appointed. It's about supporting the

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Speaker 2: re establishment.

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Speaker 1: Even as you're an appointing the brand new board. So Hammon,

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Speaker 1: when does the new board take.

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Speaker 2: Effect from the twenty third of July?

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Speaker 1: Twenty third of July, how many people on the board? Pointed?

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Speaker 2: Seven members?

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Speaker 1: Seven members starting twenty third of July. And already you've

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Speaker 1: decided someone needs to hold their hand.

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Speaker 2: Well, two of the two of those boardombers, one is

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Speaker 2: Lester Levy who is the commissioner, and one is Roger

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Speaker 2: Jared who is the deputy commissioner. Five of them, I

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Speaker 2: knew they were all incredibly experienced members. But look, this

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Speaker 2: is an organization.

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Speaker 1: Point commissioner. Every time you put five new people on

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Speaker 1: a board, do you this?

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Speaker 2: I guess the point that's going to point here is

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Speaker 2: this organization matters to all New Zealanders and its success

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Speaker 2: matters to all New Zealanders because health matters to all New.

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Speaker 1: Zealanderses education, so does education.

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Speaker 2: What's incredibly focused?

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Speaker 1: I know you're incredibly focused, but just level with me, minister,

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Speaker 1: is this because you don't trust down the line at

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Speaker 1: Health end Z? That's what this is about?

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Speaker 2: Well, this is an organization which we inherited, which has

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Speaker 2: gone through a significant amount of changes. You may have

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Speaker 2: read the Deloitte report which was released earlier this year

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Speaker 2: which showed while the last government amalgamated the twin DHBs,

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Speaker 2: the fund that inherent Health New Zealand, they were operating

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Speaker 2: a thirty billion dollar organization out of an Excel spreadsheet.

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Speaker 2: That's not how you operated That's not how you operate

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Speaker 2: a thirty billion dollar organization which delivers critical health care

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Speaker 2: to five million kiwis. And so there are significant system

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Speaker 2: changes and processes that need to be developed. Your maturity

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Speaker 2: of this organization significant.

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Speaker 1: Is here to say Minister.

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Speaker 2: Your ones permitted to doing that through through government putting

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Speaker 2: a professional governance board in place, but having an observer

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Speaker 2: helps assist us in delivering that.

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Speaker 1: Is it fair to say, just to use colloquial terms,

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Speaker 1: you're once bitten twice shine. Well, we want to.

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Speaker 2: Make sure that Health New Zealand is an organization that

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Speaker 2: delivers for New Zealanders. That's what we're focused on.

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Speaker 1: When will the delivery happen? When is it going to

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Speaker 1: be back in surplus?

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Speaker 2: Well, we're already seeing the weight light the waight times

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Speaker 2: come down for elective for the electives, were starting to

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Speaker 2: see the special the appointment waitlists come down. We're seeing

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Speaker 2: our emergency departments improve in terms of their weight times,

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Speaker 2: We're seeing immunization rates increase. So we are starting to

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Speaker 2: see delivery, which is very positive. There's a long way

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Speaker 2: to go that Health New Zealand is a massive organization.

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Speaker 2: It's full of incredible people who work incredibly hard. We're

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Speaker 2: focused on making sure that every quarter we continue to

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Speaker 2: improve what is delivered for New Zealanders.

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Speaker 1: In Wellington, apparently they're going to lose maternity ward beds

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Speaker 1: to ed beds. Does that worry you?

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Speaker 2: Look, Health Usians consulting on a change. There is a

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Speaker 2: speck capacity in in terms of beds available, in terms

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Speaker 2: of the average number which are utilized in that part

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Speaker 2: of the hospital. They're consulting about using a wing of

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Speaker 2: that part of the hospital for medical patients who are

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Speaker 2: currently waiting an ed because there's no beds available on

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Speaker 2: their part of the hospital. Look, they're working with the

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Speaker 2: clinicians on that. It's about making sure that there is

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Speaker 2: utilized in the capacity that is available in the best

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Speaker 2: interests of patients. Obviously, there are things they need to

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Speaker 2: work through with staff. I've been I've had the assurance

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Speaker 2: that they will work through those issues with staff, that

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Speaker 2: the patients who go into that part of the hospital

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Speaker 2: will obviously be in a separate part. There will be

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Speaker 2: female patients. But you know, this is a hospital which

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Speaker 2: is severely capacity constrainted, as the worst ed in terms

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Speaker 2: of d performance in the country. We're investing a significant

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Speaker 2: amount of money to rebuild their emergency department and put

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Speaker 2: more beds into this hospital. But they do need to

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Speaker 2: look just like other hospitals do around the country. How

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Speaker 2: do you maximize the use of your beds to ensure

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Speaker 2: that patients can be seen and get the treatment they need.

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Speaker 2: So look, these are always sensitive matters. They're working through

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Speaker 2: it to make sure that they can sound the best

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Speaker 2: sounds like you're across it, so do the best of patients.

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Speaker 1: So no new mum would be kicked out of hospital

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Speaker 1: earlier than they needed to be discharged.

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Speaker 2: No, no, no.

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Speaker 1: You'll confirm that for us. All right, that's good to know. Hey,

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Speaker 1: what about the SOEs you've been lights that are lining

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Speaker 1: them up for a bit of a fire sale potentially

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Speaker 1: after the election when you guys get re elected. Have

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Speaker 1: you any on the list yet or who's top of

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Speaker 1: the list.

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Speaker 2: Well, well, Ryan, we're not, we're not. We're not selling

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Speaker 2: s O ees. What we are focused on is making

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Speaker 2: sure they're actually operating profitably and uh and enacting in

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Speaker 2: my job as the c s OE ministers to ensure

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Speaker 2: that their focus is on delivering for the government. There

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Speaker 2: are a number of organized number of those sees which

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Speaker 2: I think in more challenging positions, one of them, particularly

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Speaker 2: lend Corp, which has failed to deliver over a longer

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Speaker 2: period of time. And my focus is very much on

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Speaker 2: ensuring that business is doing what it's core businesses, which

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Speaker 2: is farming. It is, it is over. The has got

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Speaker 2: involved in various other activities and my focus is get

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Speaker 2: back to basics.

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Speaker 1: Yeah okay, so Parmy number one, who'd be number two? Well?

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Speaker 2: I think my point, my point here Ryan is we

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Speaker 2: want these these companies to be operating profitably.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, well I guess there's the questions.

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Speaker 2: Delivering a return on a return on investment to text

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Speaker 2: pace and that's what.

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Speaker 1: If they can do that by election day, then they

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Speaker 1: won't be on the dropping block.

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Speaker 2: Oh look, our focus, our focus, my focus is on

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Speaker 2: making sure that they are operating.

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Speaker 1: All right, appreciate your time, minister, Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: coming on so Minister Health Minister Simeon Brown. For more

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Speaker 1: from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive Listen live to news Talks

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