KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 ― A think tank called today for transgender-sensitisation programmes to be incorporated at major health facilities and to be taught in medical schools.
The Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy highlighted barriers that trans people face in accessing health care in Malaysia, such as discrimination, sexual harassment, and refused treatments.
“Aspiring doctors, nurses and allied health personnel should be taught about the best way to care for persons who are transgender, as well as their health care needs,” Galen project officer Dorian Wilde said in a statement.
“Transgender people and other marginalised communities should not have to fear accessing healthcare and should be able to feel confident and safe while doing so.”
Wilde pointed out that efforts to sensitise doctors to gender-diverse people were only led by non-governmental organisations and a few doctors.
“As such, these programmes are severely limited and often only cover specific urban community clinics. The Ministry of Health should seriously consider adopting and upscaling these initiatives to major medical facilities in Malaysia,” he said.
Galen highlighted an article by American magazine Pacific Standard about how the lack of trans-specific health care like hormone replacement therapy and surgeries in Malaysia drove trans-people to seek treatment in countries like Thailand.
“The article also relates cases of Malaysian doctors who do not know how to treat patients with complications from these surgeries or refuse to treat such emergencies, causing patients to make repeat journeys to Thailand, often while experiencing excruciating pain,” said Wilde.
Wilde also highlighted a 2018 study in Kuala Lumpur that found doctors who hold stigmatised views of trans-people expressed greater intention to discriminate against them.
“The potential violence and discrimination, microaggression, lack of knowledge and ultra-conservatism create an unsafe environment for trans people, which makes us more likely to distrust and fear the healthcare system in Malaysia.
“This forces many of us to delay getting treatment or avoid seeking healthcare altogether,” he said.
The transgender community has faced increased violence of late.
A trans woman was reportedly killed in Klang on New Year’s Day, allegedly for stealing a mobile phone, less than a month after another trans woman was murdered by a group of youths who accused her of a similar crime.
