XVII Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium
31 October - 4 November 2001, Galveston, Texas, U.S.A.

Transsexual Care in Switzerland

BUFFAT, JULIETTE Switzerland

Switzerland is a small country in the center of Europe including three different national languages (French, German and Italian) and strongly influenced by the bigger countries around. There are two teams in public hospitals offering multidisciplinary cares for patients with gender identity troubles, one in Zurich, one in Basel, both in the German part, with severe criteria of inclusion. The problems with public services is that they do not have stable workers on the duration because the public services are places where professionals of health stay only for a short period of time of formation. And transsexual patients who need long-term treatment and follow-up for years have to change respondents very often. Many of them are also refused because they have already started treatment somewhere else or because they are not considered "good cases." We decided recently to create a multidisciplinary team working in private and offering a consultation specialized for identity troubles including already experienced medical doctors who can personally assume follow-up for many years and respect the international standards of care of the HBIGDA. We do not have criteria of information and knowledge about the rare and special troubles among other professionals of health who can be occasionally concerned and may need help or supervision. We also work in close collaboration with an association of transsexual patients offering counseling and individual or group sessions for orientation, discussion and information. We plan to do research, especially on the long term evolution of our patients, evaluating mental well-being, sexual satisfaction, affective life, family integration and insertion in social and professional sectors, and we are looking for experienced advice and protocols.