Prince George is one of seven B.C. communities that will have access to publicly funded gender-affirming chest and breast surgeries, the province announced Friday (Nov. 16).
In an effort to bring these surgeries closer to home, the B.C. government says a total of 14 surgeons in PG, Burnaby, Kamloops, Kelowna, Port Moody, Vancouver and Victoria will be available to perform the procedures starting next year.
Up until this point, anyone wanting gender-affirming breast augmentation or chest procedures needed to go to Vancouver or Victoria. From 2014 to 2018, the number these surgeries performed annually tripled, from 56 to 178.
For too long transgender British Columbians have had to leave BC to have lower gender-affirming surgery. Today we are correcting that. @VCHhealthcare @PHSAofBC https://t.co/ndOUpu86y8 pic.twitter.com/rTKxFlEU0p
— Adrian Dix (@adriandix) November 16, 2018
B.C will also become the first province in Western Canada to provide publicly funded lower surgeries, eliminating the need for people to go out of province (Montreal) or out of country (the U.S.). Reconstructive gender-affirming surgeries will be available within Vancouver Coastal Health starting in 2019.
"We are proud to be the first province in western Canada to provide these surgeries," Health Minister Adrian Dix says in a press release. "While B.C. funded these surgeries, they weren't being delivered close to home and support systems, and that is what we are changing now. This is about bringing care closer to home and offering an enhanced, more efficient, cost-effective solution."
The government says the number of those travelling out of B.C. for lower surgeries has increased each year.
Over the next year, there are 200 chest and breast surgeries expected to take place throughout B.C.
"With increased access to physicians, surgeons and other medical experts who are knowledgeable about health care for trans people, we have seen an increase in demand for gender-affirming surgeries," Lorraine Grieves, director of Trans Care BC, says in the release. "When we were planning the Trans Care BC program, we heard from trans communities that training more surgeons and establishing a surgical program for lower surgeries in B.C. was crucial to improving access to this care. It's very rewarding to know that after years of planning and collaboration, people will soon be able to receive gender-affirming surgeries closer to their home communities and support systems."
Friday's announcement is part of the province's new B.C. Surgical and Diagnostic Imaging Strategy, which is supported with ongoing targeted funding of $75 million from the Ministry of Health in 2018-19. That funding will increase to $100 million in 2019-20.
