Sushil Kumar Modi, the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, has announced that the state government will grant Rs. 1.5 lakh to people who wish to undergo sex correction operations. The state government has also constituted a Kinnar Kalyan Board for the development of the Transgender community.
सेक्स बदलने पर मिलेगी डेढ़ लाख की सहायता… pic.twitter.com/cgnB9O03ur
— Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) July 15, 2019
The announcement comes at a time when the state government has been facing great criticism for its utter inability to deal effectively with the Acute Encephalitis crisis. The medical infrastructure in the state has come under intense scrutiny. Over a hundred children had succumbed to the disease in recent weeks.
The state also suffers from malnutrition to a great extent which contributed to the devastating extent of the tragedy in a significant manner.
There also doesn’t appear to be any scientific evidence to suggest that sex change operations, or sex reassignment surgeries (SRS) as they are often called, benefits the person in any manner. In fact, the only long-term study that was conducted on the matter showed that transgenders who underwent SRS reported a higher rate of depression and suicidal tendencies when compared to those who had not. Numerous other healthcare professionals have voiced similar concerns.
Under such circumstances, that the Bihar government is funding potentially life-threatening medical procedures without any solid scientific basis for its supposed benefits using the taxpayers’ money at a time when the state’s healthcare infrastructure requires urgent upgrades is a matter of great concern. Before Bihar, Kerala and Tamil Nadu too had started providing free sex correction operations to people.
