Chhattisgarh to soon have SRS facility for transgenders

Chhattisgarh government is planning to start Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) facility in the state for transgenders in next three months.
"A team of the state's health department had recently visited Tamil Nadu to do research about the facility of Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) available there following which it has decided to launch the same here too," Chhattisgarh Social Welfare Department secretary Dinesh Shrivastava said today.
The facility is likely to be started within next three months, he said.
Till then, people of third gender community from the state will be sent to Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Centre, Puducherry (where the surgery is done free of cost) for surgery, Shrivastava said, adding that they will be provided travel allowance and financial aid for medicines.

On September 17 and 18, the health department would also organise a workshop on SRS where expert doctors from Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh will exchange their ideas on the issue, he said.
SRS is a surgical procedure by which a transgender person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble that of their identified sex.

Informing about the other welfare measures being taken for transgenders, the official said, "A special training will be organised for people of third-gender community under Chief Minister Skill Development Scheme, to make them financially self-dependent."
A six-member committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Collector/ Additional Collector for identifying third-gender people in their concerned region so that they can be associated with the public welfare schemes of government, he said.

Based on the district-level surveys conducted, total 2,798 people from the third gender community have been identified so far in the state, out of whom 338 have already been provided certificates and identity cards, he said.
Besides, state-level and district-level conference of third-gender people will also be held where the details regarding their names, educational qualification, etc, will be collected, he added.