CHENNAI: In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state, health minister C Vijaya Baskar inaugurated an exclusive multi-speciality clinic for transgenders at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), on Monday. Last year, the government had announced that an exclusive multi-speciality clinic for transgenders would be set up at the cost of Rs 15 lakh at RGGGH and Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.
The clinic, situated in the tower 1 block at the RGGGH, is open on Fridays from 9 am to 1 pm. Plastic surgeons, endocrinologists, venereologists and psychiatrists will be available. Medical services from sex reassignment surgery to follow-up treatment will be provided here.
Dr R Jayanthi, dean, RGGGH told Express, “The clinic will cater to the needs of transgenders. It is a composite care centre under one roof. All specialists will be available. More sophisticated equipment for clinical and surgical care will be added to the facility in the coming days. There is a proposal worth `1.34 crore for procurement of the equipment.”
Meanwhile, Neaya Joseph, a transgender and Grade-II laboratory technician, RGGGH said, “Many transgenders don’t know where to go and whom to approach in the initial stages of feeling like a woman trapped in a male’s body. So, a psychiatrist is the first specialist they go to confirm it. After thorough counselling, the psychiatrist will give an opinion certificate to the endocrinologist saying that the person is mentally a male, so they can be physically converted to female.
Then the endocrinologist will put the person on hormones therapy to suppress male hormones for at least one year. Then they are referred to a plastic surgeon, who does the reassignment surgery. So, the entire process is expensive and many transgenders from poor background cannot afford it. So, this clinic will be a great help for them.”