PM to ‘open’ clinic

In what is believed to be a New Zealand ‘first’, Prime Minister John Key will open the new GP practice in Greymouth next month without setting foot in town.
He will instead use modern video conferencing technology — the type hospitals are increasingly using to consult with big-city experts — to beam in for the occasion.
West Coast-Tasman MP Chris Auchinvole said he had been asked to attend the opening of the clinic, near the entrance to Grey Base Hospital, on October 6, but would be with the Prime Minister in Tasman that day. “Then I thought, ‘hang on, we can do the whole thing virtual.’ They (the district health board) were rapt,” Mr Auchinvole said.
Arrangements have been put in place, with the PM and Mr Auchinvole to link up through video conferencing facilities at Motueka High School.
Mr Auchinvole said although the Prime Minister regularly attended openings, he thought this would be the first time he would do so “remotely”.