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Denpasar. Bali has opened the country’s first ever clinic geared toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The Bali Medika Clinic, located on Jalan Kalianget in the popular tourist area of Kuta, has been in operation since Sept. 27 but was officially opened on Saturday, with the mission of tackling the stigma routinely experienced by members of the LGBT community at other health centers.

“This clinic will be a safe haven for homosexual and transgender people who continue to experience difficulty getting access to treatment at general health care facilities,” said Prof. Dewa Nyoman Wirawan, an adviser to the clinic.

He added that although the provincial administration was making progress in ensuring better access to health care for all by improving services at community health centers, the reality was that the LGBT community was still being left out because of widely held conservative views against them.

“That’s why I proposed the idea of setting up a clinic that would serve members of this marginalized community,” Wirawan said. “Fortunately, one of my colleagues, Dr. Yogi Prasetia, has agreed to manage the clinic. Over time, we will continue to provide the facility with more equipment than we currently have.”

Wirawan, a senior faculty member at Udayana University’s School of Health, said that Yogi had extensive experience in dealing with health issues among the LGBT community in the resort island.

Among the services available at the clinic will be general medical check-ups, screenings for sexually transmitted diseases, and hormone-replacement therapy.

“We will also provide counseling services, both general and mental,” Wirawan said. “In the future, we plan to offer VCT [voluntary counseling and testing] services for people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as distribute ARVs [anti-retroviral drugs].”

He added that since the clinic’s unofficial opening, staff there had seen a steady stream of patients.

The Gaya Dewata Foundation, which provides counseling and promotes safe sex practices among Bali’s gay community, has welcomed the establishment of the Bali Medika Clinic.

“The gay and transgender community here tends to be closed off and its members are reluctant to let anyone find out about their sexual orientation, so they tend to avoid seeking medical treatment when they fall ill,” said Christian Supriyadinata, the foundation’s director.

He also pointed out that existing community health centers were unlikely to offer some of the treatments required by the transgender community, such as hormone replacement therapy.

A doctor is available from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

Official figures show that 160 people from Bali’s gay and transgender community have contracted HIV as of September, while 39 have developed AIDS.

Nongovernmental groups, however, suggest the real unreported figures could be much higher.

Antara