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40+yr delay for trans ops "about right" - Minister

Wed 21 Sep 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA

Health minister Jonathan Coleman believes waits of over forty years for transgender people to have operations aligning their bodies with their gender is "about right." Coleman's comment came after publication of a letter from a Taranaki doctor to the minister passionately criticising the wait and the distress it causes transgender people. Currently 88 people are on the waiting list for operations which, after the retirement and non-replacement of the country's only surgeon carrying out such surgery, are only funded at the rate of two per year. Asked by One News how he felt about the situation, Coleman, who was a doctor before entering politics, said "we have historically done four operations every two years and that feels about right." Labour health spokesperson Annette King says there are distinct mental and psychological issues, including suicides, associated with the delay, slamming the long delay and saying that a Labour-led government "would improve that."    

Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff

First published: Wednesday, 21st September 2016 - 12:25pm

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