Cochlear implant fund hailed but more needed
Hundreds of Kiwis will be left ‘‘stuck in a silent prison’’ despite a new funding boost of millions of dollars towards cochlear implants.
Yesterday was International Cochlear Implant Day and Health Minister Health Andrew Little announced an immediate investment of $6 million for 70 additional adult cochlear implants this year.
There are 269 people on waiting lists for the life-changing procedure, with those numbers expected to grow by 40 per cent this year. Little said the Government would fulfil a pre-election Labour Party promise to invest
$28m over four years towards adult cochlear implants. If implemented, an additional 80 adults each year would receive access to the life-changing technology.
Two providers of the implants, the Northern and Southern Cochlear Implant Programmes, welcomed the funding announcement but said they were aware it would fall short of helping everyone who needs the device.
‘‘While we welcome the one-off
$6 million funding boost, we are very mindful of the nearly 200 adults who will still remain on the waiting list – and this number will only continue to increase,’’ Southern Cochlear Implant Programme (SCIP) chief executive Neil Heslop said.
Cochlear implants are surgically implanted devices that can provide a sense of sound to people with severe or profound hearing loss. Christchurch mother of two and business owner Anna McNabb, 35, was ready to quit on life when as a young adult she lost the little remaining hearing she had.
Born with a degenerative hearing condition, McNabb was able to compensate with hearing aids until a major hearing loss at the age of 21. Within a month of losing her hearing the accountancy student stopped studying and pulled away from friendships, before isolating herself at home.
‘‘It was that bad, you can’t go for jobs, you can’t talk to people on the phone, at university I couldn’t hear the lecturers.’’
The young, ambitious woman told her parents she had nothing to live for. They offered to pay for the implant, which costs between about $20,000 to $50,000, but McNabb was accepted for a publicly funded procedure and implants. ‘‘I was very fortunate to receive the implant because in my mind none of my goals were applicable without one.
‘‘So much relies on social interaction and if you don’t have that ability to communicate effectively those kinds of opportunities don’t come as easily.’’ Years later, she has a thriving business and two children. She says she doesn’t know if she would be alive if she had not received the implants.
McNabb said it was ‘‘bloody awesome’’ the Government was committed to fulfilling its promise of funding, but she didn’t think anyone should be left on the waiting list. ‘‘In an ideal world there shouldn’t be anyone on the waiting list because I guess you could say that if there’s one person on the waiting list, that’s one person who’s suffering.’’
Northern Cochlear Implant Programme chief executive Lee Schoushkoff said she wanted to see the Government develop ‘‘a long-term, sustainable funding arrangement to give those waiting not just the ability to plan, but also to give hope that one day they will hear again’’.
‘‘I was very fortunate to receive the implant because in my mind none of my goals were applicable without one.’’
Anna McNabb