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Kerala moots free sex reassignment surgery

Trivandrum - A survey conducted among the TGs in the state last year found that nearly 81 per cent of the estimated 25,000 TGs wished to change their identity.

 Kerala's Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government's recent decision to provide free sex reassignment surgeries (SRS) in government hospitals in Kerala will be a big boon to the transgenders, who have been hiding their real identity due to the isolation they face in the society.
A survey conducted among the TGs in the state last year found that nearly 81 per cent of the estimated 25,000 TGs wished to change their identity. Transgender activists say they have not been able to turn their bodies in sync with their attitude due to lack of facilities for SRS in the state.
Chilla Anil, executive director of Trivandrum-based NGO Chilla, said TGs, who like to undergo the surgery, are now forced to go to Chennai or Bengaluru. This is not practical and affordable to most TGs since SRS is a long-drawn and costly process. According to Anil, a male to female surgery costs around Rs200,000 to Rs500,000 and female to male surgery between Rs400,000 to Rs800,000 in private hospitals outside the state. This is not affordable to majority of them since they neither have regular income nor the support of their families.
Even those who have the money find it difficult to go for the surgeries outside the state since the process involves counselling for six months to two years, continuous hormone therapy for at least one year under the direct supervision of a physician and long post-surgery observation.
TGs in the state have been demanding free SRS facility for a long time now. However, many of them are sceptical about the government decision since it has come from the Social Justice Ministry headed by Dr M.K. Muneer. The Health Ministry that has to implement the decision is still keeping silence on the issue, they say.
Social Justice Department director V.N. Jitendran said that the department was pursuing the matter with the health ministry. He said that the delay in taking forward the proposal was due to the assembly elections. He said that the facility will be in place at least in medical colleges within three months after the election.
He said lot of ground works were necessary to implement the decision as the state now does not have trained physicians to conduct the sex reassignment surgery, which needs a multi-disciplinary team of urologists, endocrinologists, sexologists and psychologists.
"We have the specialists, but we need to hone their skills to perform the surgery. We hope the proposal will become a reality before the middle of the coming financial year. The government is committed to bring the gender minorities to the mainstream," he added.
The new initiative is part of the steps being taken by the government to implement the transgender policy announced in November last year. The policy, the first of its kind in India, is aimed at improving the life and living conditions of the transgender community.
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