Sex change surgery guidelines drafted

China is set to issue its first clinical guideline on sex-change surgery, according to a notice put on the website of the Ministry of Health yesterday.

The ministry is now soliciting public and professional opinions on the draft guideline. The coming guideline aims to regulate and standardize sex reassignment surgery, part of a treatment for gender identity disorder in transsexuals.

Experts estimate nearly 2,000 Chinese have undergone sex-change surgery while 100,000 to 400,000 are still considering it. However, no official number is available.