Delhi hospitals see surge in sex-change operations.

New Delhi: There is a waiting list of five at central Delhi's Lok Nayak Hospital. The number may not seem large for a surgical procedure but doctors say, compared with the past, it is nothing short of a surge. The procedure in question is a sex-change operation and its growing demand in the city suggests old taboos are beginning to melt away.

Two engineers and a medical student are among those in the queue. That's not surprising, according to Dr P S Bhandari, who heads the hospital's plastic surgery division. Most such patients come from middle-class backgrounds. "Ten years ago, we would get one or two such cases in a year. But now, we are getting three to four requests every month," said Dr Rajiv Mehta, consultant psychiatrist.