Providing transgenders healthcare services: Still a long way to go

From getting turned down from hospitals and not getting RT-PCR tests done to  facing homophobic health professionals, it is still arduous for trans  people to seek medical facilities. City Spidey spoke to Tanvi Nair, a proud trans woman who is a core committee member of the Pride Business Resource Council and also started an Ally Nation Project which gives free gender sensitization training said, "Recently, Manobi Bandhopadhya who is a prominent member of the  community was denied access to an RT- PCR test in a government  hospital. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights Bill) 2019 clearly defines this as an offence that is punishable with  imprisonment and fine. But unfortunately, the government did not ensure that the provisions in the bill were acted upon".
She also added, "Manobi news was covered everywhere, so she got into the hospital the next day, this is what I see on her Facebook. She was a prominent person hence the media went crazy. However, what happens to a regular trans person?".

It's still a long way when it comes to trans inclusion.

When City Spidey spoke to Ritushree, a transwoman who is a lawyer, LGBTQIA + activist and constantly writes about issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community said, "After section 377 was decriminalized in India, the health outreach has not improved enough. It is now better because after  the decriminalisation of 377, more people are being vocal  about Queer rights and the situation if you compare before and after is a kind of drastic change but still, a lot of work has to be done, especially for the transgender community. They are the most  marginalised group in society and most of the health care is still not  within their reach. Take the example of the Covid vaccination situation, it is awful"

On the other hand, Anuradha Krishnan, a Dentist, proud trans woman, founder of Queerythym, a registered community for queer individuals, which aims in making society free of discrimination against gender and sexual minorities said, "The health outreach has not much outreached after section 377 decriminalised. I am a medical student, still  there are doctors who are practising conversion therapy to rectify transgender people and homosexual people. They are still considering  it as a mental disorder, mental collision and whatnot. Health outreach  is still in stigma and trouble because the majority of trans people are afraid to approach any health institution for their health  purpose. Health professions as such are mostly highly transphobic and  homophobic so there is a stigma inside the trans people community to  approach medical professional and it leads to a dangerous situation  like self-treatment even complicated hormonal therapies".

She also added, "Self-treatment is creating more side effects, affecting their physical health. Also, mental health professionals  are also not aware of gender identity disorder, minority stress.  So it's a big problem, even the medical curriculum is still not  revised after the IPC 377 verdict. The IPC 377 declines that  homosexuality or sex between transgender people is not at all a sexual  offence, it's not an unnatural sexual offence but still, nothing much  improved especially in the medical curriculum".

There still remains a lot to be done to make the healthcare facilities more accessible to the trans people and everyone else from the LGBTQIA+ community.