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Irish forced to head to Britain for gender ops IRISH
people with gender identity disorders are being forced to British shores
to access gender reassignment operations as the State’s ‘appalling
services’ do not cater for the condition.
Members of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) are calling on the Irish
Government to bridge the gap which sees just one psychologist caring for
the health needs of all transgender people across the country.
There are also no psychiatrists dealing with the disorder or surgeons
specialising in genital sexual-reassignment in the country — leading
many people seeking male-to-female operations to find surgeons in England,
while those opting for female-to-male procedures are forced as far away
as Canada.
Sonya Donnelly, spokesperson for USI Transgender, said: “A vulnerable
group is being subjected to an appalling lack of services; the onus is
on the Government to end the scarcity of services for trans people.
“No Irish surgeons are available to perform surgery — this
unacceptable situation means that candidates are forced to go abroad.”
A fellow USI member added: “I went to Canada for surgery but I know
many students who have had male-to-female surgery at a surgery in Charing
Cross, London.”
The problem is one well-noted by other transseuxality awareness groups
in Ireland, including the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI).
Hannah Reid, a committee member and spokesperson for TENI, underwent surgery
in London’s Charing Cross in 2007.
She said: “It is kind of hard for transgender people in Ireland
at the moment as there are just one or two psychologists dealing specifically
in gender issues.
“Many people who are at the operating stage go to London or Leicester
where a handful of surgeons perform the male-to-female surgery —
but there are far less people in Ireland so there is not a lot of call
for someone to specialise in this surgery here.
“The English surgeons do it often enough, at least once a week,
to ensure they are up to date with the procedure — which is very
important as it’s intricate surgery; not just having a vagina put
in.”
Hannah, 34, of Phidsborough, in Dublin, added: “What would be great
though would be to have specialist clinical nurses to deal with the aftercare
and more public psychiatrists or consultants training to specialise in
gender issues.” |
