Survey: Indian Doctors Reduce Care for Transgender People Following Restrictive Legal Amendments
In October 2026, the findings of a nationwide survey of healthcare providers in India revealed that approximately 76% of respondents reported a significant decline in access to medical care for transgender individuals following the enactment of amended gender transition legislation. The study was conducted by the non-profit Indian Mental Health Alliance (IMHA), surveying more than 150 medical practitioners across 28 Indian states.
In an interview with Queerbeat, also highlighted by LGBTQ Nation, IMHA co-founder and Delhi-based psychiatrist Dr. Kavita Arora explained that the Transgender Persons Amendment Act, passed in May 2026, has triggered a “quiet withdrawal” of clinicians from providing gender-affirming healthcare. Physicians cited severe ethical dilemmas, risks of criminal prosecution, and breaches of patient confidentiality: the amended legislation requires doctors to disclose surgical procedures to district administrative magistrates and eliminates legal recognition based on self-identification without state medical board certification.
The amendments to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2019 were introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and approved by parliament in spring 2026. Proponents maintained that the regulations were necessary to establish centralized oversight of medical procedures and safeguard minors from irreversible interventions. Conversely, opposition lawmakers and human rights organizations sharply condemned the measure. Member of Parliament Saket Gokhale of the All India Trinamool Congress criticized the law as regressive, arguing that it undermines longstanding Indian cultural traditions of recognizing gender diversity in deference to foreign conservative political currents.
The new statutory rules effectively rolled back the self-determination framework established by the Supreme Court of India in its landmark 2014 ruling in NALSA v. Union of India. The amendment equates unauthorized procedures with bodily harm and imposes prison sentences of up to ten years for allegedly coercing or alluring individuals into altering their gender expression. Facing acute legal liability, numerous clinics and private practitioners have suspended hormone therapy prescriptions and scheduled surgeries while waiting for regulatory clarifications and court challenges. Meanwhile, approximately 10% of survey respondents noted that they had not observed a substantial disruption in their daily medical practices.
Earlier, Uránia reported that the Delhi High Court directed law enforcement authorities to establish standard operating procedures for the arrest and detention of transgender individuals to curb institutional abuses amid existing statutory gaps.
