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3 News > Lifestyle > Story > Ministry of Health makes one-off decision over deaf girl
There are 240,000 deaf or hearing impaired people in New Zealand, and an estimated 18,000 are children.
Two-year-old Rose Murfitt is one of those children.
Rose was born in the US and last year she received a cochlear implant, which allowed her to hear sound for the first time.
However, the implant operation was just the first step. To make it work she needed to learn how sounds and vibrations relate to hearing and talking.
In New Zealand, children receive cochlear implants and the follow up for free. However Rose's operation was performed in the US where she was living with her kiwi dad and her American mother.
The Ministry of Health's rules mean Kiwi kids that have this procedure offshore are not entitled to follow up here.
The cochlear implant in her ear is useless unless she is taught how to use it. That means habilitation treatment, parts and maintenance for the implant and hearing therapy all before she is four years old, otherwise she is unlikely to ever speak.
The Hearing House has been campaigning against the exclusion for years and today the Health Ministry changed its tune - but just for Rose.
There are another dozen profoundly deaf children who are not as lucky. And the Hearing House who advocates for the young New Zealanders says it is disappointing.
The Ministry of Health says to include all children is not a one-off decision, but a policy change. That would be the piece of policy that needs to be review to understand the implications as well.
There are 240,000 deaf or hearing impaired people in New Zealand, and an estimated 18,000 are children.
Two-year-old Rose Murfitt is one of those children.
Rose was born in the US and last year she received a cochlear implant, which allowed her to hear sound for the first time.
However, the implant operation was just the first step. To make it work she needed to learn how sounds and vibrations relate to hearing and talking.
In New Zealand, children receive cochlear implants and the follow up for free. However Rose's operation was performed in the US where she was living with her kiwi dad and her American mother.
The Ministry of Health's rules mean Kiwi kids that have this procedure offshore are not entitled to follow up here.
The cochlear implant in her ear is useless unless she is taught how to use it. That means habilitation treatment, parts and maintenance for the implant and hearing therapy all before she is four years old, otherwise she is unlikely to ever speak.
The Hearing House has been campaigning against the exclusion for years and today the Health Ministry changed its tune - but just for Rose.
There are another dozen profoundly deaf children who are not as lucky. And the Hearing House who advocates for the young New Zealanders says it is disappointing.
The Ministry of Health says to include all children is not a one-off decision, but a policy change. That would be the piece of policy that needs to be review to understand the implications as well.
