A consultation document was launched on Friday 6th April 2018 aimed at providing specialized healthcare for transgender people.
MAPHM EC Member and Public health care consultant Natasha Azzopardi Muscat highlighted the different objectives of this consultation document, among them, ensuring inclusivity for transgender people by all health care services and no discrimination or barriers.
Furthermore, there are objectives to include developing services to help transgender people affirm their identified gender. This refers to the psychological aspect pertaining to the felt, internal gender of the person and the medical aspect relating to hormonal and surgical therapies.
Dr Azzopardi Muscat highlighted international research pointing towards transgender people being more vulnerable to a lack of general well-being and suffering from feelings of anxiety and depression.
She showed gratitude towards officials from Iceland who spent a full three days in Malta to give an overview of their observations, methods and outcomes from the specialised services offered by their healthcare system over the past 20 years, specifically for the transgender population.
The consultation period ends on 6 June and the accompanying document may be found online.  Input may be sent via email on transhealthcare.health@gov.mt
Find the Consultation Document here
Featured Image Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Article adapted from Original Article on the Malta Independent by Helena Grech