Thu 1 Sep 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
With now over 85 people on the waiting list for gender reassignment surgery and taking into account the current rate these surgeries are being undertaken, those on the list are facing a wait of almost 50 years. The Ministry of Health’s Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Andrew Simpson says there are currently, 71 people waiting for male to female gender reassignment surgery and 17 people waiting for female to male surgery. In February 2014, New Zealand’s only gender reassignment surgeon retired, leaving 61 people on the waiting list at the time. Since then, no male to female surgeries have been undertaken. “The process for resuming male to female surgeries began April 2016” says Simpson, individuals who are selected will be sent overseas for surgery at a rate of 3 surgeries every two years, a rate which trans advocates say needs to be addressed. “Once the surgery for the currently selected four individuals has been completed, then the surgery rate for the last few years will be reviewed, in order to identify whether a ‘catch-up’ is required, in order to compensate for the time when there has been no surgery.” There is currently no “preferred provider” and it is “the responsibility of DHB specialists to identify overseas providers for the individuals that they refer overseas.” “We had hoped that it might be possible to identify a ‘preferred’ provider’ for New Zealand for this surgery, but so far the DHB specialists have wished to make their own referrals to overseas surgeons, in consultation with their patients.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 1st September 2016 - 10:46am