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Obese South African wins NZ’s reprieve
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An overweight South African threatened with deportation from New Zealand because of his obesity was yesterday granted a 23-month reprieve.
However, Albert Buitenhuis will not be entitled to any publicly funded health care over the next two years, associate Immigration Minister Nikki Kaye said.
Buitenhuis, who now weighs 130 kilograms, appealed to the minister two months ago when his work visa renewal application was rejected because of the demands his obesity could place on New Zealand’s health system.
When Buitenhuis and his wife Marthie moved from South Africa to Christchurch, New Zealand, six years ago, he weighed 160 kilograms and until this year the annual work visa was renewed without any complications.
After reviewing information leading to the threat of deportation, Kaye said she had “made a decision giving Mr Buitenhuis a work visa for 23 months.
“Under this arrangement he is not entitled to publicly funded health care and he will have to meet any health costs himself,” she said.
Buitenhuis was not immediately available for comment.
An Immigration New Zealand spokesman said in July that Buitenhuis was rejected because his obesity put him at “significant risk” of complications including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and obstructive sleep apnea.
A recent OECD report listed New Zealand as the third-most obese developed nation behind the US and Mexico.
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