Trans people in NZ left waiting 10+ years for bottom surgery
Transgender people are told they will “be lucky” to get bottom surgery due to a long waitlist and only one doctor in the country. Gender-affirming surgery is a lifesaving procedure for many trans people. But while 359 people are waiting for the gender-affirming surgery, only two surgeries have taken place this year.
Katikati mum Jen Hart’s 18-year-old trans daughter, was told she would have to wait till she was 29 to get bottom surgery in New Zealand. When Hart’s daughter first approached doctors about the surgery, she was told the waitlist was really long and she would “be lucky”.
In 2019, the government allocated $3 million over the next four years for gender affirming surgery, also known as bottom surgery. This would fund up to 14 surgeries a year. That year, Hart and her daughter were told the waitlist had gotten better after the funding boost. Hart said, “We were told really good means its gonna take this long and when we calculated it, 29 she’d be. And that was if on the day she turned 18 we got her on the waitlist.”
Just five surgeries took place in 2020, 10 in 2021 and two this year. According to the Ministry of Health, out of the 359 referrals for a specialist assessment, 59 have had their first appointment.
Hart said her daughter went through depression and became suicidal largely due to the surgery wait time. “She wasn’t showering and using the toilet just twice a day because she hated it so much … That was when she started wanting to die, I was keeping her alive every day.” Hart’s daughter is now saving to get surgery in Thailand next year.
While New Zealand has only one doctor performing bottom surgeries, Hart said, “Thailand has so many doctors doing it, there was so many it was hard to choose.” She felt Thailand was the place to go, “The surgery is around $60,000 in New Zealand but in Thailand with surgery, hotel, flights, everything, $20,000.” The surgery alone was $9,000 in Thailand. The people Hart went through will book up to three months in advance, a short wait time compared to New Zealand.
Hart felt happier when the government put more funding into surgeries, but there may be more to do. “14 surgeries a year isn’t really a lot when you look at how many people are on that list and all the people that are going on it every day.”
Hart said people don’t understand the necessity of bottom surgery. “A lot of people see my daughter passing, she looks like a girl so obviously that’s all that matters. They don’t see the simple things like when we go to the toilet we just rush in and rush out, but she has to confront parts of her body she doesn’t like.”
Victoria University student Ashley, has been working up to 30 hours a week to save money for bottom surgery, potentially going overseas for it. Ashley said, “It's insane to make it so inaccessible to the people whose lives will be saved by it.”
Ashley said while the trans community is very upset about the waitlist, she hasn’t seen many efforts made to improve it. “I’ve always thought the main problem with the waitlist was that there's only one surgeon, but maybe it is some kind of transphobia in there too. I feel like there may be something systemic going on there, it's just not treated as seriously.”
“Part of it is trying to pretend that this isn’t a lifesaving surgery that people need.” While the wait time has reduced, Ashley said the more being trans is accepted, the more people join the waitlist and bring the wait time up.
“I’ve heard people say the surgery can cost upwards of 50 grand.” Coming from an above working-class family, Ashley didn’t think she would have anywhere near enough money to put aside for the surgery. “People who aren’t as well off as me, they’re gonna be in even worse of a position.”
