By: Nabeel Rehman
Facilitating healthcare provisions for the transgender community, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa issued directives last Monday, instructing health authorities to designate separate rooms in all District Headquarters (DHQ) hospitals across the province. Moreover, the government has committed to allocating specific land for the burial of transgender persons.
The announcement came following a meeting between the Chief Minister and Governor Ghulam Ali to address the pressing issues faced by the transgender community within society. Such initiatives mark steps towards the inclusion and progress of marginalized communities in society.
Sobia Khan, a trans rights activist and executive member of the trans-led organization Manzil Foundation, expressed satisfaction over the recent development in securing fundamental rights for her community. She said, through their team’s consistent efforts and multiple meetings with Capital City Mayor Zubair Ali, they managed to present the basic needs of the transgender community before the Governor of KP to be recognized as constitutional rights. Following their meeting, the government issued a notification allocating dedicated rooms and burial land for the transgender community.
Notably, this is not the first time the KP government announced separate beds to improve healthcare for the transgender community in KP. They had a previous notification mandating the allocation of separate beds for transgender individuals in all Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) back in 2019.
In 2018, the KP government had already once declared the allocation of separate burial land as well for transgender persons while heading the committee on transgender rights. Mushtaq Ghani, former speaker of the assembly, declared land for the marginalized community; however, this announcement was in vain as well due to failure in implementation.
Arzoo Khan, Executive Director of the Manzil Foundation and President of the Transgender Association, expressed appreciation for the current government’s efforts but lamented the consistent failure in translating promises into actions.
Transgender rights activist Qamar Naseem emphasized the importance of the government reinstating the previous notification of 2019 regarding the dedicated beds for the transgender community in Category A, B, and C MTI hospitals throughout the province.
Similarly, an Endowment fund bill was drafted and presented in the provincial assembly for the welfare of thousands of transgender persons in the province but could not pass in the assembly. The KP government decided to reserve a 2% quota in government jobs for transgender persons to create visibility of the marginalized community in the government sector but till date government has failed to provide a 2% job quota as well.
The government of KP has demonstrated to be progressive in their measures towards the transgender community but only through announcements and notifications. Their commitment has often fallen short when it comes to actual implementation.
