Proposal to hold gender affirmative surgery in Kerala government facilities gather dust

Even as the LGBTQ community is up in arms over the death of a transwoman in Kochi allegedly owing to complications following the Gender Affirmative Surgery, commonly known as Sex Reassignment Surgery

Even as the LGBTQ community is up in arms over the death of a transwoman in Kochi allegedly owing to complications following the Gender Affirmative Surgery, commonly known as Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), a proposal to conduct such surgeries in government medical colleges continue to gather dust. The Social Justice Department had in 2018 submitted a ₹3.50-crore proposal to the government suggesting to equip the Kottayam Medical College to hold SRS on a pilot basis and then to expand it gradually to all government medical colleges. It would have freed the community from the clutches of private hospitals, which alone now conducts such surgeries. “Though the Social Justice Department has increased the SRS assistance to the transgender community from a uniform rate of ₹2 lakh in 2018 when it was started to ₹5lakh for transmen and ₹2.50 lakh for transwoman from last year, it didn’t help the community much as private hospitals increased the rate proportionately,” said Social Justice Department sources. This was in addition to ₹3,000 a month for a year for post-surgery convalescence.