How Thailand Became a Global Gender-Change Destination

Beny and Yael Gangian spent more than $30,000 to help their transgender daughter Eimy complete her long-sought-for change of sexual identity. For the Israeli family, who used money saved for 18 years, borrowed from a bank and donated by family and friends, there was only one place they felt would give immediate, affordable and high-quality treatment: Thailand.

 

The Southeast Asian nation is at the forefront of the growing practice of transgender surgery, capitalizing on decades of know-how, low-cost health care, and a ready supply of surgeons trained to perform the male-to-female procedures.

 

“They have the best doctors here and I feel I can count on them,” Eimy said in an interview on the eve of her surgery in Bangkok in September. While the 18-year-old could have had the operation free in Israel, the surgeon wouldn’t have been as experienced and she probably would have had to wait years — a delay her mother Yael says Eimy couldn’t have endured. “I want to undergo the surgery, to lead my life with happiness, in truth — to become a woman, completely, without any question at all,” Eimy says.

 

Read More: How Thailand Became a Global Gender-Change Destination – Bloomberg Business