Saudi Arabia: 2,000 undergo sex correction operations

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.

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