West Bengal will conduct a series of workshops in December in which healthcare professionals from government hospitals across the State will be taught how to become more gender responsive and show greater sensitivity to vulnerable communities such as LGBT persons and trauma survivors.
According to the organisers, the collaboration with psychiatric social work experts and State health institutions makes the programme one of the first structured, hospital-based, multi-stakeholder initiatives of its kind in the State.
The workshops will be held on December 5, 17 and 23 at the Swasthya Bhawan in Kolkata, and they are being organised by the Department of Psychiatric Social Work (SSKM Hospital) and the Child in Need Institute in collaboration with the Institute of Health and Family Welfare.
“Healthcare settings are often the first place that people turn to when they face discrimination, violence, or distress related to gender identity. But there is a need for awareness, enhancing sensitivity, and the readiness to respond. This gap affects both physical care and mental wellbeing. The programme has been created to address these gaps,” said Mayank Kumar, head of the hospital’s Department of Psychiatric Social Work.
