There are 71 people waiting for male to female operations, and 17 on the waitlist for female to male.
Public funding pays for three male-to-female and one female-to-male surgeries every two years, and they have to be performed overseas as there is no one in New Zealand who is able to carry out the procedures.
Jennifer Shields is in the process of getting onto the waiting list for gender reassignment surgery, and said the prospect of waiting half a century is "ridiculous".
"It's absurd, at this rate I wouldn't get the surgery until I was 73.
"I know so many people who aren't even bothering to get on [the list] because there's no point at this rate.
"To even get on the list you have to appointments with a psychiatrist and a psychologist, which pretty much have to come out of your own pocket. It's hundreds and hundreds of dollars, just to get on this list which is at such a slow rate now.
"It's really discouraging, it's just a disappointment."
Shields said when the rates were established in 2003 it may have catered to demand, but this was not the case now.
"With the increase in acceptance and more people coming out, three every two years might have been all right back then but there's so much more that needs to happen now."
Rainbow Youth spokeswoman Toni Duder echoed Shields' calls for the Ministry of Health to fund more surgeries.
"Through the conversations we've been having as a society, people are more aware of it.
"Numbers are rising in surgery but also in mental health services. There's always been the numbers of people with gender issues, but now people are less likely to hide it and are more likely to do something about it.
"[Surgery] is not always the first step, but it's important to have the option."
Duder said Rainbow Youth has had an increase in young gender diverse people going to the organisation for support.
Ministry of Health acting chief medical officer Dr Andrew Simpson said funding for gender reassignment surgery is funded through the High Cost Treatment Pool, with male to female surgeries costing about $35,000-$40,000 and female to male costing as much as $180,000.
He said the number of surgeries will be increased for later this year and into next year.
"Four male to female and one female to male overseas surgeries have been initiated for 2016/17. There will be catch up surgeries once the new system has successfully bedded down, to fulfil the commitment to funding four surgeries every two years."
Since the retirement of the plastic surgeon on the gender reassignment surgery team in 2014, the ministry has been referring people overseas for male to female surgery.
"Female to male surgery is highly specialised surgery and has always been carried out overseas," Simpson said.
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Comments
So 71 men are awaiting surgery to make them ‘female’, and 17 females await being made ‘male’. Out of a population of 5 million, that amounts to less than 0.002% of the population. Even that sound a bit high.
Is this really an important issue?
If all 88 persons were provided with surgery, that would amount to an expenditure of about $5.5 million based on the figures provided. And probably more given that many, if not most, will then require substantial psychological and psychiatric intervention. It seems that all this has to paid from the public purse. Why?
Spending sums of this sort could aid stroke victims, heart attacks, asthma, you name it.
In the sense of Triage of health funding, you may be right. In terms of recognition of a valid health issue, not so much. In making a case, submitters should explain the psychological/emotional consequences of 'gender unassigned', in limbo. It does not seem either fair or socially responsible to deny human rights simply because they are rights sought by a minority.
When we have an extremely limited health budget, and no magic tooth fairy to meet the shortfall our politicians seem to continually be able to create, I would rather the budget is allocated to keeping people healthy and dealing with the crippling illnesses in society.There are massive waiting lists for all procedures and giving a $5.5m vote to less than 0.002% does not make sense (other than to acquire political support of a minority group). If we are going allocate $5.5m to every 0.002% minority group that multiplies out to $275,000m we need allocate to treat each of them fairly.
The Ministry of Health does not need more of my money to fund what is essentially a private choice. Its like me expecting the Ministry of Tourism to fund my new fishing rod. This is a private choice, not a medical emergency or problem. Those wishing for such a procedure should fund it themselves.
Rationing is the reality of health care funding now. Our tax base isn't large enough to fund everything that could or should be done.