BANGKOK, March 27 (TNA) – The Medical Council of Thailand has been urged to probe some clinics and hospitals which gay activists say may be too easily, and too soon, applying the scalpel to young men who are likely to be emotionally unready to deal with the lifetime implications of removing their sex organs.
"We don't want (underage) Thai boys to make wrong decisions due to peer pressure and immaturity," Nathee Theerarojanapong, a gay rights activist, said after leading a group of leading gay community representatives in submitting an open letter to the Medical Council on Thursday afternoon.
Mr. Nathee added that he had received a report that a 16-year-old had undergone castration surgery at a clinic in Bangkok last year. The teenager believed that after his testicles were surgically removed he would not develop characteristic masculine features and hence his feminine appearance would be emphasised.
More teenaged boys – some as young as 14 years – are awaiting the same procedure, which costs as little as 4,000 baht (US$126), according to Mr. Nathee.
Sexual reassignment surgery among adults includes a large component of emotional and psychological assessment and counselling, and the activists suggested that persons who had not yet reached their legal majority should be properly counselled before such psychologically complex surgery.
Dr. Amnart Kussalanont, Secretary-General of the Medical Council of Thailand, said his agency was prepared to carefully investigate all clinics and hospitals offering such ethically questionable surgery. He also urged the public to provide his agency with more information about such clinics and hospitals.
Gay activists urge surgeons to halt underage castrations
Thai News Agency MCOT, Thailand
