Groningen hospital starts offering hormone treatment for kids with gender dysphoria

From April, children who feel like they are in the wrong body can go to the Beatrix Children’s Hospital of the UMCG for hormone treatment. The Groningen hospital reported this on Tuesday.

The UMCG expects to treat about 50 children with gender dysphoria per year with puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. The puberty blockers ensure that the body does not develop further into the male or female gender. According to the UMCG, this gives the children time to explore which gender treatment is desired. The children can also receive cross-sex hormones or hormones of the desired gender.

Children have been able to go for hormone treatment at the UMCs in Amsterdam and Nijmegen for some time. The waiting lists are long everywhere, and, according to the Groningen hospital, this will remain the case. “Yet it is good that there is now a center in the Northern Netherlands where children and young people have the opportunity to receive their treatment in their own region,” said the UMCG.