No less than 624 Belgian citizens are waiting for an initial interview with a view to alter their birth sex, according to figures published in Het Laatste Nieuws on Wednesday.
People assigned male at birth wanting to transition to female must wait for an average of two years before getting a Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS). The wait for people assigned female at birth who want surgery to transition can be as much as four years.
Belgium is one of the pioneers in terms of SRS, and many people from abroad travel to a Belgian hospital to get one. "Not only is the quality of our procedures recognised, but our scientific expertise is also excellent," Docter Guy T'Sjoen, head of endocrinology at UZ Gent, stated.
However, at UZ Gent, staff are so busy that many new foreign patients are being turned away, as there are still over 600 Belgian people waiting for treatments and/or surgeries.
In 2019, 456 Belgian people wanting a transition registered with the hospital. 91% of them have started hormone treatment and 52% have undergone genital surgery. "And the peak has not yet been reached."
The Brussels Times
