74 beds reserved for transgenders at K-P govt hospitals

PESHAWAR: The provincial health department on Tuesday said that it has reserved as many as 74, separate beds for people who are transgender at government hospitals across the province, as part of the Transgenders Protection Act 2018, implementation process.

In a statement issued by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Health Department on Tuesday, it said that by reserving separate beds for the transgender community, K-P had become the first province in the country to do so.

Previously, the facility was available to transgenders only in public sector hospitals of the federal capital.

As per the law, five is the number of beds which will be allotted to people who are transgender in medical teaching institutes, four in Category ‘A’ and ‘B’ hospitals and three beds in Category ‘C’.

The beds have been allocated in 19 hospitals spread over 15 districts of the province. The health department said that it intends to increase the number of beds to 124 beds to cover the remaining public sector hospitals of the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2019.