Recently, a government hospital in West Bengal almost refused admission to a trans woman injured in an accident because there were no protocols in place to handle admission of such patients. In this article, Diksha traces the right of non-discrimination and accessibility in heal0th care under international as well as domestic law. She argues that government hospitals which have no protocol for the admission of transgender patients are in violation of existing legal obligations. Despite it being three years since the NALSA verdict, the fact that the central and state governments have not taken any steps to make health care services more accessible for trans persons, are in contempt of the Supreme Court’s verdict, the Constitution and international law. This, in itself ,could be a ground on which to challenge state actions before a court of law.
(This is a post written by Ms. Diksha Sanyal)