The Board of Directors of the Social Security Service (CCSS) in Costa Rica approved this Thursday, November 29, the protocol of comprehensive attention for the transgender population, which means they will be able to receive hormonal treatment in the hospitals of the CCSS.

Doctor, Roman Macaya Hayes, executive president of the CCSS, described the approval as a ¨historical decision¨ that settles a Human Rights debt with this sector. Macaya affirmed that this agreement responds to the world demand of defense of Human Rights.

The transgender population can request the services at the first level of attention and from there they will be referred to the psychology service, once passed this stage they are then referred to the endocrinology services for the specialist to carry out the diagnose and prescribe the hormonal treatment that they will receive. The institution will walk the patient throughout the whole process.

The medical authority of the CCSS said they expect that by the fist trimester of 2019 the entire personnel has received training to ensure there is no discrimination towards this population.

The training will focus on raising awareness and sensitivity towards the attention of this population, to guarantee high quality of services.

¨We are making sure that these men and women do not suffer serious consequences due to their condition. We are working towards ensuring that they use adequate treatments prescribed by a specialist with the corresponding security and quality¨

Many members of this population turn to the use of medications without adequate supervision, many of the products used are for veterinary use which could cause serious health complications which end up needing medical attention and elevate the costs of the health services.

Hormone therapy is intended to induce physical changes that coincide with the gender identity and the goal of the treatment is to maintain the hormonal levels in normal physiological range corresponding to the desired gender.