While an Emirati woman seeks permission from the courts in the United Arab Emirates to have that country’s first sex change operation‚ hundreds of people are faced with the prospect of having to wait for up to 25 years to get the surgery done in South Africa. The 29 year old woman‚ who has testosterone levels similar to a man‚ could become the first person in the UAE to undergo the procedure since the country recently legalised gender reassignment surgery under a Medical Liability Law. She had felt like a man trapped in the wrong body since she was five years old‚ said her lawyer Ali Al Mansouri. The hearing was postponed this week until October 5 for medical examinations‚ reported the Middle Eastern online news portal GulfNews.com.While it has been 13 years since South Africa promulgated the Alteration of Sex Description and Status Act‚ a number of challenges cause significant delays in getting gender reassignment surgery‚ causing a huge backlog. There are only two hospitals in the country that do sex change surgeries: Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria and Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. Each of the two hospitals performs four surgeries in a year. Western Cape health department spokesman Alaric Jacobs said there were “a number of processes” that a person had to undergo before the surgery could proceed. “Due to the complexity and cost associated to this surgery‚ there are only four surgery’s done per year. In the Western Cape the waiting list is approximately 25 years long and this type of service is only available to patients from the Western Cape‚” said Jacobs. He said there were now approximately 170 people on the waiting list for surgery. At Steve Biko‚ however‚ there is “no actual waiting list”‚ according to Gauteng health department spokesman Steve Mabona. “Only a small pre-determined number of cases are considered per annum. The patient is subjected to a process of intensive clinical and psychological assessments prior to any decision made to proceed with surgery and therapy‚” he said. “After the assessment the patient is either accepted into the programme or declined‚” said Mabona. Jacobs said Groote Schuur Hospital had‚ since 2009‚ treated 40 patients. “This is an elective procedure and therefore has to be prioritised as resources become available.”He said gender reassignment was a time consuming process that took six to 10 hours per operation. There is a single doctor doing the procedure at the hospital.“Patients are automatically added to the list when they are first seen by a doctor on the transgender team. The waiting list is operated on a strictly first come first served basis. We are currently operating on patients from 2009 and will do so for the next four to five years‚” Jacobs added. The Lesbian‚ Gay‚ Bisexual‚ Transgender and Intersex community have criticised the Alteration of Sex Description and Status Act because gender can only be changed at Home Affairs after the surgery‚ which involves a long wait...