(Thailand) New sex change regulations set to take effect

[Flan]

New sex change regulations set to take effect
By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
Published on October 28, 2009
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/10/28/national/national_30115353.php

The council moved recently to strictly control sexchange operations and require that transgender people consult a psychiatrist, live as a woman for a year and receive hormone therapy before being such an operation is allowed.

For Areeya the new rules are an inconvenience. "I have already spent my whole life as a woman - since I was a little boy - and why [do] I have to live as a woman for another year to undergo sex change surgery?" she said.

Areeya said she had wanted to be a woman since she was a young boy. She said she had played with dolls like girls did and wore her mother's skirts. 

[MaggieB]

Apparently, US citizens also have to have two Thai psychiatrists give their permission before SRS surgery.  They will not accept US letters anymore.  A friend has scheduled two sessions costing about $300 total the day before her surgery is scheduled.  Those Dr's have to give their approval before she can have it. 

Maggie

[Syne]

From the article it sounds as if foreigners will need two, one of which must be from a shrink in Thailand.

Foreigners seeking to have such operations here must get approval from a psychiatrist in their country of origin as well as a psychiatrist in Thailand before undergoing surgery.