Singelberg Clinic

http://www.herald.ie/news/hse-pays-for-14-sexchange-ops-abroad-2875940.html

THE HSE paid for 14 sex-change surgeries abroad over a five-year period, it has emerged.

Gender reassignment surgery is not available in Ireland but it can be organised abroad and financed by the HSE under the E112 Treatment Abroad Scheme.

Recent figures show that the HSE received 14 applications for the operation under the scheme between 2005 and 2010, and that it granted them all.

While the HSE could not reveal the total cost of the procedures, as it argued that it was "commercially sensitive", it is understood that such operations could cost up to €63,000, without taking into account the cost of travel and post-operative therapy.

Gender reassignment surgery has been approved for public patients who suffer from Gender Identity Disorder (GID).

It consists of an operation to alter a patient's genitalia to resemble the sexual characteristics of the other sex.

Most patients who applied for the operation under the E112 scheme were treated in Britain where the cost of the operations are estimated at approximately €63,000 for female-to-male procedures and €30,000 for male-to-female transgender operations.