Madras HC Seeks Response On Plea Seeking Formulation & Implementation Of Technical & Operational Protocols For Gender Affirmative Care Procedures

The Madras High Court has directed the National Medical Council, Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Department, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Government Rajaji Medical College and Hospital, National Health Mission Tamil Nadu, Directorate of Medical Education and Research, Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services to respond to a plea seeking protocols for gender affirmative surgery. The bench of Justice SS Sundar and Justice P Dhanabal directed the respondents to file counter and adjourned the case by 4 weeks. The plea was filed by Fred Rogers, a man of trans experience. The plea seeks directions to the Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Department to formulate and implement technical and operational protocols for gender affirmative care procedures, after due public consultations as per the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Guidelines (WPATH) Standards of care as mandated under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019. The plea also seeks a declaration that any unethical practice/ technical or operational protocol which are not in line with the WPATH Standards of Care shall be deemed to be professional misconduct under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations 2002 read with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council Code of Medical Ethics (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations 2003. The plea also sought directions to the respondent hospitals to eliminate unethical, objectionable, medically unnecessary practices being conducted on transgender persons in Chennai and Madurai transgender clinics. In his plea, the petitioner states that though Tamil Nadu has special exclusive clinics for transgender persons, the protocols followed in the Chennai and Madurai clinics are not in line with the WPATH guidelines (Standards for Care Version 8) which was released on September 15, 2022. The plea states that in the absence of technical and operations protocols for gender-affirming procedures, the mandate of Section 15(e) of the Transgender Persons Act would be defeated. Further, due to the absence of protocols, unethical and unscientific practices are being undertaken in the clinics, such as asking for parental assent even for adults, asking for the person to strip naked without any medical basis, performing two-finger tests on trans men, insistence on the transgender identity card, etc. Thus, the petitioner submitted that the gender-affirming healthcare procedures in Tamil Nadu have become inaccessible, unreliable, and discriminatory. The petitioner thus pointed out that the failure to formulate proper operational and technical protocols was a violation of transgender persons' fundamental right to self-determination of their gender identity and gender expression under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution and is also a violation of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution. The absence of protocols is also a violation of the transgender persons', fundamental right to body autonomy, dignity, privacy and right to health under Article 21 of the Constitution. Case Title: Fred Rogers v The Health and Family Welfare Department and Others Case No: WP 35883 of 2024

Madras HC Seeks Response On Plea Seeking Formulation & Implementation Of Technical & Operational Protocols For Gender Affirmative Care Procedures

Upasana Sajeev

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