Delhi: No new sex change surgery at Lok Nayak Hospital – ET HealthWorld

NEW DELHI: Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to the state health department on lack of provision of sex reassignment surgeries in government hospitals in the national capital.

“Lack of free sex reassignment surgery is one of the main problems faced by the transgender community in Delhi. Presently, most transgenders undergo immense suffering as they are unable to get these surgeries done due to exorbitant costs of the same. I have issued a notice to the health department in the matter and we shall work towards ensuring that free sex reassignment surgeries are provided in government hospitals in Delhi,” said Swati Maliwal, chief of the women’s panel.

Lok Nayak Hospital, the largest state-run facility and the only government-run institute that offers free gender affirmation surgeries, has stopped accepting new cases for now. “We are not giving any new dates. The calendar for this year is already full. It is unfortunate that because of the pandemic and lockdown, such surgeries are pushed back by almost three years,” said Dr PS Bhandari, consultant plastic surgeon at Lok Nayak Hospital.

Dr Bhandari further stated that those who had applied for the surgery in the year 2019 are being called upon and given priority now. “Those who were in a hurry have obviously moved to private facilities but cost is a major factor. At Lok Nayak, we receive many requests for the surgery, but only 5-6 surgeries are conducted in a year. There is a backlog from the year 2019 and such applicants are being given dates for this year,” he added.

Activists say that the surgery is a life-saving procedure for people with gender dysphoria. They further fear that delay and postponement of such surgeries at government facilities will push trans people in desperation and towards quacks for ‘quick solution’.

“During Covid times, even these sparse facilities were either shut down/ shifted to Covid services, or had a long queue. This pushed people towards the unregulated market of private providers and quacks who perform these surgeries at a very high charge. Some trans people have lost their lives at such unregulated centres or through surgeries performed by the quacks. Many trans people come from poor economic backgrounds and they can’t afford surgeries at such private centres,” said Dr Aqsa Shaikh, social activist and the first transgender person to head a Covid vaccination centre.

Dr Aqsa further stated that there is an urgent need for more such provisions at government centres in the national capital and for the regulation for quality service.