Relationship Services Whakawhanaungatanga is deeply distressed about the situation regarding its staff who were on the fifth floor of the CTV building at the time of yesterday's earthquake, Chief Executive Jeff Sanders says.

The Asthma Canterbury office in Cashel Street is damaged and will be closed until at least early next week.

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners President Dr Harry Pert has been re-elected for a second term.

Dr Tony Townsend has been re-elected Deputy President.

One of the world's leading neuroscientists is in NZ this week to raise awareness about his clinical trials treating spinal cord injury.

The Community and Public Health division of the Canterbury District Health Board have issued a health warning after potentially toxic blue-green algae (benthic cyanobacteria) were found in the Waipara at the Teviotdale Bridge.

The Fred Hollows Foundation has launched an in depth online guide to eye health in the hope that it will give everyday Australians important information they need regarding various eye conditions.

Many people with acute coronary syndrome delay going to hospital until too late to benefit from treatment.

This is the finding of a study published online as an Early View article in Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Health insurers want to see a discussion about ways to encourage greater self-provision in health care.

The call comes after a year in which the number of New Zealanders covered by health insurance fell by 10,000 to 1.38 million.

Foodstuffs has upped the ante in the milk price freeze, saying not only is it holding prices but that it will drop them if suppliers do.

Wellington, Feb 20 NZPA - Countdown, Woolworths and Foodtown supermarkets have pledged to freeze the price of milk for the rest of the year.