Transgender people must be given their rightful access to tests and screening for contagious diseases like HIV/AIDS
LAHORE: Without doubt, the transgender community now has more opportunities to work and earn a respectable living compared to the past few years. Government offices have employed many as regular employees, and betterment of the situation must be credited to the initiatives individually and collectively taken by the government and the non-governmental organisations working for transgender rights. Nevertheless, the community is still one of the most socially marginalised sections of society that is openly denied its basic right to health and education facilities.
In the past, there have been numerous instances where transgender persons have been denied medical treatment primarily because of their sexual orientation. It is important that transgender people must be given their rightful access to tests and screening for contagious diseases like HIV/AIDS, since a considerable number of them work as sex workers and engage in unsafe sexual activity. Further, a lack of awareness adds to the chances of the patient being unaware of the disease partly because of non-availability of treatment and screening facilities, and the ailment being transmitted to anyone coming in physical contact with the patient.
Unfortunately, sexual issues and diseases remain a taboo topic despite the grave situation in a country that has 132,000 HIV patients. As the idea of treating HIV as openly and commonly as any other disease might be still far from implementation, the least the medical authorities can do is to assure the transgender people of full access to treatment.
Munazza Hashim
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2017.
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