The Gauhati High Court has ordered the Assam government to build a separate wing at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for the patients belonging to the transgender community.
The HC further asked the Centre on Monday to issue a list of benefits for transgenders under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Hearing a petition filed by transgender rights activist Swati Bidhan Baruah, a division bench on Monday passed the order.
Swati Bidhan Baruah is the first transgender judge in the Northeast.
“I approached the court after I saw the transgender community excluded from the scheme. The court’s landmark order should enable the community to get its own health wing at the GMCH,” Baruah told reporters in Guwahati.
Baruah said the court has sought a specialist dealing with the health issues of transgenders to be made available at the separate GMCH health.
The wing will also provide sex reassignment surgery, she said.