How transgender clinics providing free treatment in Kerala are a game changer

Wednesday September 13, 2017 , 2 min Read

Government colleges in Kerala will soon have clinics opened exclusively for the transgender community, following the path of Kottayam Medical College. Treatment will be free of cost and the transgender people will just have to carry a health card with them.

For now, the clinic in Kottayam Medical College is open on the first Tuesday of every month as it is running on a trial basis. Soon they plan to keep it open for more days. Talking to Scroll, Varghese P Punnoose, Professor, and Head of Department, Psychiatry, said,

We have adopted a unique style of functioning in which all doctors will be available for consultation from 10 am to 2 pm on the first Tuesday of every month. This multidisciplinary approach helps the doctors discuss the conditions of the patients and seek opinions from other doctors.

This way, the doctors ensure that with just one visit, all the queries of a patient get addressed. Though the clinic is primarily for patients in Kottayam district, the doctors are willing to treat patients from other districts too.

To help with the sex reassignment surgery, surgical wings will be opened along with the clinics — with the first one to come up at Kottayam. According to The Times of India, Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a statement,

It is a fact that transgender persons are not getting timely and adequate treatment. These clinics will provide them support for their healthcare. There are some peculiar health issues faced by this section of the people and they are not aware of the treatments available. These clinics will help address this.

Volunteers from the transgender community along with a paralegal volunteer will be appointed to help them with the legal proceedings.