If You’re Transgender In New Zealand, You’ll Have To Wait 32 Years For Sex Change Surgery
Since the only surgeon able to perform sex reassignment surgery in New Zealand retired, the nation’s transgender people have been put on a 32-year waiting list.
One anonymous transgender man told the Guardian that he was “gutted” when he learned he’d have to wait that long. He’s remortgaging his house and starting to save up to raise $150,000 for surgery in the U.S. Otherwise, he said he’ll spend “another 32 years of living like a half-person.”
“I thought maybe the waiting list was 20 years, and I could have accepted that. But 32 years means it is never going to happen: end of the dream, really.”
According to the Independent, New Zealand’s only capable doctor retired in 2014, and in the year prior, he tried to convince every plastic surgeon he met to adopt the specialty and is now lobbying the government.
“It is very complex and no one wanted to take it up,” said Dr. Peter Walker, who’s in his 70s. “But it is fascinating surgery and fascinating patients – work that truly changes lives.”
New Zealand transgender community 'desperate' as surgery waitlist tops 30 years https://t.co/hz5DC9pxQE
— Guardian news (@guardiannews) April 22, 2016
The New Zealand government actually funds sex reassignment surgeries, but not that many — about four every two years. The waiting list for state-funded procedures has grown to 70 hopefuls, a situation that has made the trans community “desperate” and “frustrated.”
Lynda Whitehead, the president of trans advocacy group Agender, described the feeling in New Zealand’s transgender community.
“All hope of getting the procedure done has been taken away. When Dr Walker was practicing, the waiting list was long, but it was still possible. Now the backlog will take decades to clear. There are a lot of depressed trans people out there, wanting to move forward with their lives but unable to.”
The ministry of health is working with endocrinologists, psychiatrists, and other specialists to choose which transgender patients can get treatment overseas; these procedures would be state-funded and begin in 2016 or 2017.
Efforts are being made within the country to fix the problem. The president of New Zealand’s Association of Plastic Surgeons, Dr. Sally Langley, has tried to convince the health ministry “multiple times” in the last 18 months to pay for a local surgeon to train in the complex surgery. She’s still waiting for a response.
One surgeon from New Zealand is studying reassignment surgery overseas, but she doesn’t know when that doctor will be ready to perform the procedure.
Transgender people who can afford it are traveling to Thailand, Australia, and the U.S. for surgery, but that’s not an option for most people. And it’s not always the wisest choice.
Dr. Walker said he’s operated on dozens of patients who underwent botched surgeries in other countries, where techniques might be outdated. Moreover, the surgery is complicated and invasive, and patients are more likely to recover if they’re home.
An anonymous private plastic surgeon, who performs the “top” surgery, said New Zealand should make this problem a priority. Seeing transgender people suffer physically, psychologically, and emotionally has been “difficult to witness.”
“These are just a normal group of people who are caught up in a terrible dilemma around their gender identity. And if there are practical things that can be done to help improve their lives, we need to do that now.”
Vic Roper, 30, said he hasn’t bothered to sign up for the waiting list because “by the time I got to the top of the list, I would be too old to appreciate it.” He argues that the health needs of transgender people are “just as valid” as anyone’s.
“Imagine being trapped in a shell you don’t want to be trapped inside,” Whitehead said. “And you know that can be changed, but it is taken out of your reach. It is no wonder rates of depression and suicide are so high in the trans community – people are absolutely desperate.”
[Image via Maren Winter/Shutterstock]
