Parents’ fear on implant delay

Diam Zafer with his mother Simy Gulzar. He is deaf and almost blind but walks and has senses of touch and smell. Picture / Richard Robinson

Every day that Diam Zafar waits for surgery to help correct his severe deafness is a day lost from his potential to develop normal language.

Aged 2 years and 7 months, the New Lynn, Auckland, boy was scheduled to have a hearing device implanted last Friday, say his parents, Zafar Gondal and Simy Gulzar.

But after a more urgent case took priority at the Starship hospital and what some say are increased delays for cochlear implant surgery, they no longer know when their toddler will be treated.

"Time for him is very important," said Mr Gondal. "The surgeon and the audiologists emphasise that the sooner he gets the implant the better chance he has to develop language."

Experts say that the younger children are when treated, the greater the likelihood they will speak clearly and develop normal language skills.

With specialised help, most make up for their time without hearing, but some never will and the chances are lower for those, like Diam, who have additional disabilities.

He is almost blind and has to be fed via a tube through his abdomen because he has not learned to eat and drink after the successful repair of a cleft palate.

Mr Gondal said that despite Diam's birth defects, he had a bright mind, walked independently and had strong senses of touch and smell.

The hospital told him in January of Diam's surgery date, he said, but cancelled it a month ago and he now understood the operation could be six or more months away. "We have been treated very unfairly."

An Auckland District Health Board manager, Denise Thomson, said Diam's parents had been misinformed.

Implantation would be offered, but he had not yet been booked. The surgery would not be before July 1, the start of the new financial year, since the board had already given implants to 19 of the 20 North Island patients it treated annually and the remaining place was allocated to someone else.

A Starship surgeon said that if the eight patients now being assessed were all offered treatment, some would have to wait for "quite a few months".

Cochlear implants

* Surgically implanted into the the inner ear and skull to treat severe deafness.

* The implant passes on electrical signals it receives as radio waves from an external device which looks like a hearing aid.

* Treatment costs about $50,000, including the device, surgery and specialised hearing and speech therapy.

* The Government pays for 27 implants a year, but paid for more last year to clear the adult waiting list.