Senior Doctors' Union Condemns Puberty Blocker Ban

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists - Toi Mata Hauora (ASMS) condemns the decision from Minister of Health Simeon Brown to ban new prescriptions of GnRH analogues (puberty blockers) for transgender children and young people who are not currently on them.

"It is completely inappropriate for the Government of the day to be determining treatment options for our patients," ASMS president Dr Katie Ben says.

"These are clinical decisions that should be made by medical specialists and multidisciplinary teams in collaboration with the patient and their whānau."

"We know mental distress is a significant problem in our transgender patients and evidence tells us there is increased risk of suicidality when gender affirming care is not provided.

"Removing access to puberty blockers will simply exacerbate this distress in young people seeking gender affirming care.

"ASMS echoes the call from the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) for the minister to explain his reasoning for blocking updated guidelines for gender affirming care, finalised in March, and to allow them to be published," Ben says.

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