It was officially founded after a meeting in April 1886 at Dunedin Hospital.

[3] In the 1960s, Erich Geiringer, who was in conflict with the association, exploited the potential for confusion by founding the New Zealand Medical Association (since this name was officially free).

Geiringer's NZMA included a number of progressive physicians and was very involved in political debates.

In May 2022, the Board of the NZMA recommended to members that at a meeting on 30 May 2022, they should vote to liquidate the association, because of long-standing financial difficulties caused by falling support.

[8] Publication of the NZMJ was taken over by the Pasifika Medical Association Group.