KOZHIKODE: Apart from the social stigma and struggle to find a space, it’s the health issues that often push the members of the transgender community into depression and, in some cases, suicide. While it may still take many years for society to be inclusive, a few doctors have come together under the banner of ‘Pride in Practice Society’ to prepare a detailed protocol for gender care, especially in doing the sex reassignment surgery (SRS). The operation helps align the body to the gender that a person identifies with. Currently, the state’s healthcare providers have no guideline in gender affirmative care.
The society will conduct workshops across of the state to gather inputs regarding the protocol from medical experts and members of the transgender community. The first such workshop was held in Kozhikode on Tuesday in which more than 100 experts and transgenders came together to express concerns regarding the current challenges in the medical sector. .
New protocol offers care to trans people
The official launch of the society was held during the event. The Pride in Practice Society was formed by a group of modern medicine doctors under the leadership of society’s president Dr Pratyusha M and Dr Sameera Jahagirdhar (NHS, UK) as the chief advisor.
Dr Arjun P C, general secretary of the society, said, “While frameworks such as race, religion, colour, country and gender differentiate human beings, health workers have only one goal -- health for all. That too, with the same care excellence. A group of people who are marginalised by society do not get this kind of care for many reasons. One community that has been caught up in it is the LGBTIQA+.” According to experts of the society, the protocol will offer a sense of protection.
As per the preliminary step, it has been decided that the protocol will have a few processes which include self-identification as transgender, psychiatric assessment, counselling by surgeons and psychiatric certification. The organisation aims to prepare the protocol within five years and submit them to the state government.