CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 118 of 120

Correct — D, RML Hospital, New Delhi. Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, a central government hospital in New Delhi, opened India's first dedicated outpatient department for transgender persons on 17 September 2023, at the beginning of Sewa Pakhwada. The clinic runs on a fixed afternoon each week with its own registration counter, so that patients need not queue in general lines, and offers free consultation, investigation and treatment, including gender-affirming surgery and the psychiatric, endocrine and plastic surgery inputs that go with it. The reason for a separate clinic is well documented: transgender patients report avoiding hospitals altogether because of discomfort at registration, intrusive questioning and discrimination, so a dedicated door is a public health intervention as much as a courtesy. It sits alongside the legal framework created by the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019, which requires the Government to take measures for their health care.

• (a)AIIMS, New Delhi — AIIMS has been reported as planning a dedicated centre for transgender healthcare, which is what makes this the strongest distractor; but the first dedicated outpatient department opened at RML Hospital.
• (b)PGIMER, Chandigarh — A major referral institute with gender-related surgical services, but it did not open the country's first dedicated outpatient department for transgender persons.
• (c)KGMU, Lucknow — King George's Medical University runs services used by transgender patients, but the first such dedicated clinic was in Delhi.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 prohibits discrimination in health care among other fields, provides for a certificate of identity through the district magistrate, and directs the Government to take steps on health, including separate provision in hospitals and coverage for gender-affirming surgery. The Supreme Court's NALSA judgment of 2014 had earlier recognised transgender persons as a third gender with the full range of constitutional rights, and the Ayushman Bharat scheme was later extended to include a package for the community.

This is a which-institution-first item, and the pull of the distractors is entirely reputational — AIIMS is the name that comes first to mind for any medical first in Delhi. The reliable memory hook is the date and the occasion: the clinic opened on 17 September 2023, at the start of the fortnight of service observed from that date, and it was RML, the other large central hospital in central Delhi. As of the 2024 exam this remained the first of its kind; other hospitals have since begun similar clinics, so the fact is best stored as a first, not as the only one. Worth flagging: UPSC has not released a key for this paper, and some answer keys in circulation mark (a). The hospital that opened the country's first such clinic is the one named in (d), so this card takes (d).

• India's first dedicated outpatient department for transgender persons opened at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, on 17 September 2023.
• The clinic runs weekly with a separate registration counter and offers free treatment, investigations and gender-affirming surgery.
• The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 prohibits discrimination in health care and provides for identity certificates.
• The Supreme Court recognised transgender persons as a third gender in the NALSA judgment of 2014.

• Assuming the most prominent hospital must hold every medical first.
• Confusing a plan or announcement with an inauguration.
• Treating the 2019 Act as the source of third-gender recognition, which came from the 2014 judgment.

As a which-institution item on a national first, or as a statements question on the 2019 Act and the NALSA judgment.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In which judgment did the Supreme Court of India recognise transgender persons as a third gender?

  • (a)NALSA v. Union of India, 2014
  • (b)Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, 2018
  • (c)Puttaswamy v. Union of India, 2017
  • (d)Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, 1997

  Answer(a) NALSA v. Union of India, 2014 — which recognised the third gender and directed reservation of benefits under socially and educationally backward class provisions.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act was enacted in which year?

  • (a)2014
  • (b)2016
  • (c)2019
  • (d)2021

  Answer(c) 2019 — it prohibits discrimination in education, employment and health care and provides for a certificate of identity.