Refugees learn about their new home at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland.

Syrian refugees scarred by torture, war and the loss of loved ones may be re-traumatised because our health system is underfunded, health leaders say.

Up to a third of the approximately 85 Syrians arriving in Wellington, Porirua and Hutt Valley next week are suffering severe trauma, depression and anxiety, Refugee Trauma Recovery manager Jeff Thomas said.

But the specialised regional counselling service is already overstretched, so without more funding, new arrivals will likely be "re-traumatised" by having to wait months for therapy.

REUTERS The Free Syrian Army fires a shell towards Islamic State fighters in Syria in January.

Some were suicidal, and the wait would put them more at risk, he said.

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"It's not like they can go off and be 'fixed' elsewhere, they're torture victims ... we have major concerns."

The service is contracted by the Wellington and Hutt Valley district health boards and, with no funding increase for three years, its waiting list has grown with each new cohort of traumatised refugees from Colombia, Myanmar and elsewhere.

But the wait would become untenable as the first group of an additional 600 Syrian refugees arrived, on top of New Zealand's normal annual refugee quota of 750.

The DHBs had asked the Ministry of Health to fund another trauma counsellor and a decision was expected by the end of the month, Thomas said.

Given the Government's directive this week that DHBs save $138 million this year, he was not confident.

"It's certainly going to be incredibly difficult if we don't get it."

There are also concerns the 30 or more Syrians bound for the Hutt Valley may have to depend for basic health care on Hutt Hospital's emergency department, because the few medical centres that enrol refugees cannot cope with more.

The manager of one of the centres, Hutt Union and Community Health Service, said unlike other DHBs, the Hutt does not have dedicated funding for refugees' GP enrolments.

Hutt Valley GPs got the same funding for a refugee as for any other patient, even though refugees' complex needs meant extra costs such as interpreters, Sally Nicholl said.

"We won't take any new refugees without extra funding, because the pressure it puts on us is just too much."

That would leave the Syrian arrivals without a GP, a situation Jeff Thomas called unprecedented and "unbelievable".

Nicholl hoped for a solution in upcoming meetings with the Hutt DHB and its primary health organisation.

The Ministry of Health's chief financial officer Mike McCarthy said it recognised additional refugees put extra pressures on health services, and was actively considering additional funding.

Refugees were entitled to the same healthcare as any other high-needs patient, he said.

Capital & Coast District Health Board spokeswoman Sandra Williams said it would ensure refugees had equal access to services.

The first of 600 Syrian refugees coming over the next two years arrived in Auckland in January, and have been in an orientation programme in since then.

* To learn more about refugees or help go to redcross.org.nz

