One of the primary reasons behind the call to read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was to provide better healthcare access to the LGBT+ community. Now, just less than 2 weeks after the Supreme Court verdict, members of the community are coming out in record numbers to avail healthcare facilities.
In Telangana, the number of LGBT+ people visiting the ‘Kanti Velugu’ eye check-up camps has witnessed a surge in the number of patients ever since the judgment was passed on September 6. Till September 5, only 184 LGBT persons had visited the camps. However, within 12 days of the judgment, 174 people from the community have visited the camps for health check-ups.
According to Dr G Srinivas, director of public health in Telangana, the number of people identifying as transgender has gone up from 1-2 a day to 10-12 a day.
He told TOI:
“It’s not just the increasing numbers but the confident way the LGBT persons are coming forward. Earlier a few people used to come together, now they come individually.”
He also pointed out that the changes that the judgment will bring about will go a long way in delivering healthcare to the LGBT community.
Under the Kanti Velugu scheme, which was launched on Independence Day this year, the government of Telangana provides universal eye screening to the entire state. The citizens are also provided with spectacles and eye surgeries free of cost. Under the scheme, people can also access medicines for common eye ailments as well as seek treatment for severe eye diseases.
Access to healthcare has been at the forefront of India’s fight for LGBT right. The original challenge to Section 377 came through AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) in 1994, in which the NGO cited that the law hindered organizations from preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the community. While striking down the law in 2009, the Delhi High Court took into consideration an affidavit filed by National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) which stated that law violates LGBT rights.
