WARANGAL: With initiatives from members of the Telangana transgender community and district collector B Gopi, the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital has opened a separate clinic for transgender people, the first of its kind in Telangana.
Transgender people are facing numerous health problems due to lack of separate health care units for them in the state.
Every Tuesday, from morning 10 to 12, the clinic will be open and provide OP services to these people. After opening the clinic, transgender people started visiting the hospital without any fear and have begun utilizing the medical services at the exclusive clinic meant for them.
Hospital superintendent Dr V Chandrasekhar told Deccan Chronicle that the transgender people required special medical services like Harmon therapy, trans-sensitive pelvic examinations, prostate examinations, STD and HIV tests, diagnosis and treatment along with surgical reassignment procedures like feminizing genitoplasty, masculinising phalloplasty, breast augmentation and reduction, gynaecomastia correction and facial aesthetic procedures.
At present, the clinic is taking care of the general health services, guidance and medication on hormone therapy, gender affirmation procedures, mental health counseling, prevention and treatment services for HIV and STI diseases.
Minor surgeries are conducted after adequate psychiatric counseling to the patients. After seeing the response for at least two to three months, steps would be taken for providing additional medical equipment for major surgeries, he said.
President of the Telangana transgender community, Laila, told Deccan Chronicle that apart from the health care needs of normal people, the transgenders p need special health care like medical transition of using hormones, surgeries and expert care to avoid various health problems that are specific to them.
Since there is no scope of getting proper medical treatment from specialists and expert doctors, many transgender people go to Mumbai, Thailand, Delhi and Pune and spend lakhs for medical assistance.
Due to lack of such money, several transgender people lost their lives by taking treatment from inexperienced and unqualified doctors. Some of them are suffering from the side-effects.
If the government takes the initiative and provides required medical facilities along with equipment required for surgeries on transgenders, it would be highly appreciated, she stated.
The National Health Authority recently signed a pact with the social justice and empowerment department for providing medical services to the transgender people. Steps are also being taken for providing sex re-assignment surgeries and free medical services to the transgender people under the ‘Jan Arogya Yojana scheme’.
