Father despairs over surgery wait

An Auckland father is protesting at the time it is taking for his son to receive life-changing surgery.

Two-year-old Diam Zafar is deaf, partially blind and is fed through a tube after having his cleft palette removed.

His father Zafar Gondal says the boy has been waiting for an ear implant for months.

He was supposed to have the procedure in April, but his place was taken by a child with meningococcal disease.

Mr Gondal claims one official told him there was an error and his son was never on the waiting list.

He said he now has to wait until the DHB's next financial year before his son gets the chance to hear, but the implant will be less effective the longer he has to wait and it becomes less likely the boy will ever be able to speak.

- NEWSTALK ZB