The Transgender Healthcare Services document denoting the policy direction which the government is taking in terms of this field was launched on Monday morning at the Transgender clinic.
Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne said at the launch that the document highlighted the government’s policy of making healthcare accessible to all, and it was the culmination of work which started with a public consultation between April and June last year.
As of November 14, the Mtarfa Health Clinic extended its services to host a multidisciplinary team of medical and social professionals specialised in offering care to transgender people. The multidisciplinary team includes doctors, nurses, therapists, psychologists, and social workers who all contribute to the care of these individuals.
Since the service was opened, 30 transgender persons have been referred to the clinic for various forms of treatment.
The document looks into various facets of transgender healthcare. For instance, it looks to support awareness campaigns and training for health workers so to deal with friendlier services for transgender people, whilst collaboration with Identity Malta so to avoid mis-gendering is another idea presented within the document.
The standards of care issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health have been proposed by the Health ministry as the basis for local treatment protocols, whilst paediatric experts will also be drafted into the multidisplinary team dealing with transgender persons to make sure that children and adolescents are well cared for. On the same subject of adolescents it is suggested that partly or fully irreversible treatment should be considered after the age of 16, whilst the early-use of puberty-suppressing hormones may also help avert negative social and emotional consequences.
In terms of treatment offered, the services will range from primay care to hormonal and surgical treatment, gynecologic and urologic care, reproductive options, voice and communication therapy, psychological support, psychiatric care, psychotherapy.
Fearne also reminded that the government published a legal notice last year which read that trans-persons who require medical care related to their gender can access it for free using the government system.
The Health Minister noted that this measure was one that makes sure that all spheres of Malta’s society are taking advantage of a universal healthcare system that applies for all.
In February 2017, The Malta Independent had reported on the struggles that transgender men faced when seeking treatment, such as having to book appointments under their girlfriend's name or purposely waiting to be the last appointment of the day so that they are not seen in the waiting room. In that article, the 'ideal solution' presented for dealing with these struggles was the establishment of a gender clinic - which back then was, according to Fearne, still being discussed.