Thailand's transgender women avoided the military draft with a doctor's diagnosis of their gender change.

Transgender beauty queen Parida Kerayuphan, or 'Rocky', 21, avoided the annual army conscription with a copy of her medical records showing she had undergone breast augmentation.

Rocky submitted the required documents to prove her 'gender identity disorder' at the enlistment centre in Roi Et province on April 4.

She was classified under Category 2, which includes 'people who are not in perfect health but who do not have a disability'.

In Thailand, healthy men aged 21 and older are required to serve in the military. Some of them volunteer, while others are forced into service through a raffle-style drae usually held in early April.

However, transgender women who have undergone breast augmentation surgery are exempted from the draft. They can also produce medical documents proving a psychologist has diagnosed them with gender issues.

A government spokesman said: 'For those who suspect that they have a condition that may interfere with military service to undergo an examination before the military selection examination, they can get tested at military hospitals under the Royal Thai Army, which have 22 locations throughout the country.

'Every hospital will appoint a committee of doctors to specifically diagnose the condition. And that person must have a medical certificate from a hospital under the Royal Thai Army as evidence confirming a diagnosis that is contrary to military service.'

Military conscription has been compulsory in Thailand since 1905.

This year, some 40,000 positions in the army will be filled through conscription, Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Thanitpong Sirisawetsak said.

The enlistment started on April 1 and will last until April 12. However, men who 'transition' and live as women can be exempt from military service if they furnish medical records showing they have been diagnosed by a psychiatrist as having gender issues.