The embattled Canterbury District Health Board has had its substantial debt wiped clean

Health Minister Chris Hipkins has signed off on a 180-million-dollar cash injection - so the CDHB can keep its head above water.

Newstalk ZB reporter Amber Allott says it had managed to rack up the biggest DHB deficit in the country..

She says the DHB was being pushed to slash spending - and it'd seen senior leaders quit and hospital staff protesting in the street.

But Allott says Hipkins has made it clear - Canterbury DHB has to return to financial stability.