New Law Does Not Make Sex Change Legal in UAE

DUBAI: The new Medical Liability Law does not make the gender reassignment surgery legal in the UAE, an official at the country’s Ministry of Health and Prevention has clarified.

“We want to clarify the difference between the terms ‘sex change’ and ‘sex correction surgery’, as sex change surgery remains illegal in the UAE,” The National quoted Dr. Amin Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for public policy and licensing at the ministry, as saying.

Sex change surgery alters the gender and physical features of a person, whose gender is clear, to match his or her physiological, biological and genetic characteristics, Dr. Al Amiri reportedly said.

In contrast, sex correction is the “medical intervention to correct the sex of a person who suffers sexual obscurity, as it is unclear whether the person is male or female, and whose physical features do not match the physiological, biological and genetic characteristics”.

Al Amiri was quoted as saying that sex correction surgery was in line with Sharia and carried out in other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia.

People who wish to undergo sex correction operations must meet certain requirements, which have to be approved by a Health Ministry committee, said the Abu Dhabi-based news portal.

Al Amiri was quoted as saying by The National, he believed the new law would protect patients and healthcare professionals.

(Source: FilipinoTimes.ae)