Ghent University Hospital is an authority when it comes to transgender switches.

The number of people embarking on a sex change continues to rise. In the 1990s there were only twenty changes a year.

By 2013 113 sex change operations were being carried out. Last year the figure rose to 148.

The Ghent transgender team is hoping to expand soon: “If the number of people working on transgender teams does not increase we will end up with long waiting lists,” says Jos Motmans.

“It’s a difficult topic and people wait a decade before broaching the subject. If you then hear that there is a six month wait for an appointment to discuss the matter, then you realise how inhuman this is.”

Flandersnews.be / Expatica