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Gulf Saudi

Saudi Arabia: 2,000 undergo sex correction operations

Surgery performed over past 36 years in gender dysphoria cases



Illustrative image.
Image Credit: Pixabay

Abu Dhabi: More than 2,000 Saudis have undergone sex-correction surgeries over the past 36 years in gender dysphoria cases, where a person’s gender is unclear, or their appearance does not match their physiological, psychological and genetic characteristics, Dr. Yasser Jamal, consultant pediatric surgery, said.

Gender dysphoria is a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. This sense of unease or dissatisfaction may be so intense it can lead to depression and anxiety and have a harmful impact on daily life.

Like the UAE, Saudi Arabia bans sex change surgery, by which a person with a clear gender identity and matching physical features seeks to change sex.

Legal consultant Rakan Al Ghofaili said the surgical procedure by which a transgender person’s physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble that of their identified gender is permitted, if it is part of a treatment for gender dysphoria in transgender people, as advised by a governmental medical commission.

The Ministry of Health, he said, made it obligatory for hospitals not to take any decision related to performing a sex change operation unless approval of the authorities is obtained.

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“These approvals are strictly limited to sex correction operations, not sex change, as sex change operations are illegal in the kingdom,” Al Ghofaili said.

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