Public health legislation for India

[Guest guest]

Dear Pals,

I am a Physician and a Member of Parliament of India.

India doesn't have a comprehensive Public Health legislation. I would like to

introduce one in the Parliament as a Private Member of Bill. Please send in your

ideas.

There is no people's charter regarding public health from the

Government of India. Can you send in your suggestions regarding that?

I am a Urologist. I am concerned about the plight of intersex[*] persons in

India. I am working on a bill to comprehensively cover all aspects of the

problems of the intersex and the state's role in helping them live a normal

life. Please give ideas.

Dr. R. Senthil

Member of Parliament

[*denotes the state of physical ambiguity - having the

genital/gonadal/reproductive structures characteristic of both sexes]Cross

posted:HIF-net:

Dr. Ram Senthil is from the Pattali Makal Katchi (PMK) party. Elected as the

member of parliament from the Dharmapuri Constituency in Tamil Nadu. M.B.B.S.,

MS (General Surgery), M.Ch.(Urology), FRCS. Educated at Kilpaule Medical

College, Chennai and Stanley Medical College, Chennai, FRCS from England. Core

Group member of Parliamentary Forum on HIV and AIDS.

Dr. R. Senthil, Member of Parliament

Thangam Hospital, Salem, Main Road

Dharmapuri - 636 705 (Tamil Nadu)

Tels. (0434) 2310600, 9443262064 (M)

e-mail: senthiluro@...

____________________

EMPOWER INDIA

e-mail: <ttn_empower@...>

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

One issue to lobby for is not to force genital assignment surgery on

children who are born intersex. Surgeries done to make the genitals look " more

normal " should not be performed until a child is mature enough to make an

informed decision for herself or himself.

Unfortunately parents of intersex children are so distressed that they often

treat their own distress with surgery on the child; when instead parents should

be allowed access to trained psychologists, psychosocial care and community

support groups.

So basically what I believe is to allow the child to be brought up as a girl or

a boy as the parents decide, but NOT to perform surgery to make the genital male

or female. Allow the child to grown up with atypical genitalia until they are

old enough to decide for themselves.

Issues of stigma and shame surrounding this also need to be addressed. Much like

HIV I suppose. You fear what you don't know and don't understand. Some years ago

I read a book called " Middlesex " . It educated me a little on this subject.

All the best

Revati Chawla

e-mail: <revati.chawla@...>