NZMA board recommends association be liquidated

The board of the New Zealand Medical Association has recommended that the organisation be liquidated at its annual general meeting at the end of the month.

Board chair Alistair Humphrey said in a statement that the financial situation of the association was unsustainable following two decades of stagnant membership and the accumulation of deficits that had reached the point where the union needed to dissolve or face becoming insolvent.

“Serial NZMA boards and staff have made many attempts over the last few years to come up with a way to save the association – to pare back, to undertake a merger, to raise revenue or trim costs somewhere or another,” Dr Humphrey said.

“Despite their best efforts the financial position has become more and more precarious and the reality now is that this board and this chair have to convey the heart breaking news to the members: the financial position of the New Zealand Medical Association is unsustainable.”

The NZMA first met in 1886 and became an affiliate of the British Medical Association (BMA) in 1896, remaining a branch of the BMA until 1967.

It publishes the New Zealand Medical Journal and is the custodian of New Zealand’s membership of the World Medical Association.

A resolution will be presented to members at the AGM on May 30, and if approved will be confirmed at a special general meeting in late June.

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