VietNamNet Bridge – On Tuesday a 3-year old and a 6-year old child received the certificate of gender redefining of the Children’s Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. Their gender was changed from male to female. These are the first cases of ambiguous gender that were recognized of transgender in Vietnam.

Second hospital allowed performing gender redefining

The 3-year old child was born at a maternity hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with the male genital, so the baby was recognized as a boy. Recently the child was detected with an unusual phenomena at the genital.

After several times of consultation, doctors defined that the baby is a girl and conducted plastic surgery to resume her true gender.

The second case is a 6-year old child in Dak Lak. The child was noted in the birth certificate as male because she had the male genital. In the past 6 years, the parents dressed their child as a boy. However, the child has expressed like a girl so the family suspected her sex and took the child to hospital for examinations.

At the HCM City Children's Hospital 2, the patient was tested for chromosomal and other tests. The results show that this is the case of vulva pathological hypertrophy due to adrenal hyperplasia. The patient successfully underwent surgery and was certified with her true gender.

In addition to these cases, the Children's Hospital 2 has received seven cases in which all babies have unclear genitals.

Doctor Pham Ngoc Thach of the HCM City Children's Hospital 2 said previously the hospital treated many cases in which girls were confused as boys by clitoral hypertrophy. But from July 1 2013, after being licensed by the Ministry of Health, the hospital began to recognize gender redefining cases.

In Vietnam, three hospitals are permitted to intervene and grant certification of gender redefining for those with gender ambiguity due to birth defects, including the HCM City Children's Hospital 2 in HCM City, the Central Pediatrics Hospital and Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi.

My Lan