For the first time in the country, exclusive clinics for the transgender community will start functioning in government medical colleges across the state and will offer sex-change surgeries.
- The move has been undertaken by the state’s Health and Social Justice departments as a part of the state’s Transgender Policy unveiled in 2015.
- This will be executed in collaboration with Legal Services Society with an aim to make the state’s health sector transgender-friendly.
- The clinics will also help with various health issues unique to transgenders and offer counselling.
- The first clinic will be set up at the government medical college of Kottayam within the next two months and will be one of the first clinics to provide the sex-change surgery.
- The present government has issued identity cards for the members of the community and has set aside a budget of Rs. 10 crore for their welfare.
- The government has also planned on opening post-surgery shelter homes in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam where the community members can stay for a short while following the surgery.