A Thai university has opened a clinic dedicated to performing sex-change operations for transgender people.

Medics at the Chulalongkorn University unveiled the Gender Health Clinic (GHC) in Bangkok after seeing rising demand for gender reassignment surgeries.

A variety of procedures are available in the specialised clinic that range from reshaping the chest and genitalia to other common procedures for the trans community such as cheek and jaw enhancement and Adam’s apple reductions.

GHC co-founder and professor Kasian Panyakhamlert said their team believes that there many Thai citizens who long for sex-change surgery so they wanted to create specialist healthcare for them.

He said: ‘We have a lot of people in Thailand who prefer to change their genders. At our new GHC, we can provide them with the standard healthcare they need.’

His colleague Dr Thanapop Bampenpiankul, who is also one of the specialists at the clinic, said one of the goals was to provide safe medical facilities in order to reduce the risks many trans people go through.

Dr Thanapop said: ‘There are some transgenders who wanted to remove their ovaries and do the full change. They would need expert care to avoid life-threatening conditions and the GHC will help in this aspect.’

Aside from providing sex-change operations, the clinic will also serve as a transgender health learning centre for licensed physicians and medical students.

Despite being a relatively conservative Buddhist country, Thailand is well known for its large population of transgender women – known colloquially as ladyboys – who are widely accepted in society.