Free vasectomies for Hutt Valley men

Men are being offered free vasectomies by the Hutt Valley District Health Board as a way to reduce the number of women who need to be sterilised. Board funding and planning general manager Martin Hefford said about 200 women were waiting for sterilisation procedures - usually tubal ligation - and most were treated within six months. But 50 women had waited longer.

"What we realised was that there was no option for couples to have a free vasectomy," Mr Hefford said. Women on the waiting list would be told of the waiting time for surgery and offered a free vasectomy for their partner.

At $350, a vasectomy cost a quarter of the price of tubal ligations and snipping the male ducts was a far safer procedure, Mr Hefford said. The board would pay for GPs and family planning centres to perform the vasectomies. He expected a demand for about 200 a year.

- NZPA