PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Apr 30 (IPS) – Transgender people and civil society organizations have welcomed the Prime Minister’s decision in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, to allocate separate rooms in hospitals for the transgender community to enjoy uninterrupted health care.
We demand that all provinces follow suit and announce facilities for more than 500,000 transgender people in the country, Farzana Shah, president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Transgender Association, told IPS.
On April 6, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur announced separate rooms for transgender people in public hospitals following complaints that they are not admitted as they face violence in the facilities.
In the last year, some 47 transgender people have died as a result of the violence and 90 have been injured. Many injured trans people die because of delayed treatment. In most cases, we cannot get healthcare in hospitals,” said 40-year-old Shah.
The prime minister’s guidelines to reserve rooms have received a positive response.
Members of a transgender delegation who met him recently quoted Gandapur as saying, “Our priority is to provide better healthcare facilities to transgender people in the province. We will help the underprivileged community.”
Arzoo Khan, a social activist, is overwhelmed.
In all 38 district level hospitals, we now have a separate room. Earlier, hospitals denied admission to our colleagues, Khan said.
“The problem we face is that most transgender people have been abandoned by their families because of the social repercussions. People look down on transgender people.”
We have no one to help us; therefore, support from governments is a very welcome step, Khan said.
Besides allotment of space, the government also provided land for a separate cemetery for transgender people.
Civil society activist Jamal Khan said there are several cases where local communities have refused to bury eunuchs because they do not consider them Muslims.
They earn their living by dancing at marriage parties and other festive occasions where they have social acceptability, he said. “Allocating hospital rooms and separate land for cemeteries are really laudable measures that will lead to protection and respect for trans people.”
Transgender people are often deprived of last rites such as bathing and funerals after death.
Sobia Khan, another leader, said they are deeply vulnerable and subject to abuse and violent attacks, despite being a source of cheap entertainment.
Some transgender people also have HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses for which they need ongoing medication, Sobia said.
The attitude of the police towards the group was also bad, he added
“Most of the time, the police beat our members, grab them by the neck and drag them into the street.”
Khan claimed that his parents have been excluding him for the past ten years.
Peshawar, the capital of KP, is home to 9,000 transgender people; most of them have lost connections with their families and were considered sinners and therefore abandoned by their near and dear ones, Sobia said.
Where the group was the target of violence, the perpetrators were rarely brought to justice, encouraging others to mistreat transgender people.
Sexual harassment of trans people is a common sight. Everyone thinks we are sex workers, which is not true because we just dance. Many are violated, he said.
Police officer Rahim Shah told IPS that many transgender people were invited to marriage parties where they danced for money.
Shah claimed that on returning from the performance at night, the robbers attacked them and killed or injured those who tried to resist.
“In cases of transgender murder or injury, their relatives do not come to receive the dead bodies for burial or attend to the injured in hospitals,” he said. Their problems are complex, as they did not enjoy respect in the community or in their families.
Sumaira Shah, 29, narrates her ordeal after running away from home.
My family was strongly opposed to dancing and my father and brothers beat me every day, forcing me to stop dancing as it was a source of dishonor to the family, but it was my fashion, she said.
“Faced with daily taunts and beatings, I ran away from my home district of Swat to Peshawar when I was just 14 years old,” he said. Since then, I haven’t seen any of my relatives. Shah said he welcomed the hospital room policy.
A month ago, a hospital in Peshawar sent me home with some medicines despite having a high fever, he said.
She said: “People often threaten me when I decline their offer of sex, and I am afraid because many of our elders have died at the hands of gangsters when they did not comply with their demand for illicit relations.”
Social rights activist Pervez Ahmed appreciates the government’s new initiatives.
He claimed that it was the first time that the government made an effort to safeguard the health of those who had lost the support of their parents and faced severe rejection from the community.
Ahmed said the government has already included transgender people in a free health insurance program, under which they can benefit from $12,000 a year.
Report of the UN IPS Office
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Inter Press Service (2024) All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
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