The audit of the inspectors and experts of the Ministry of Health at the Careggi hospital in Florence to verify the treatment of gender dysphoria in children has come to an end. Head of the technical secretariat of the Ministry of Health, Mara Campitiello, confirmed to ANSA that the inspectors have completed their review and have requested the medical records of random pediatric patients at the hospital.
The objective of the audit is to verify the path adopted in relation to the use of the drug triptorelin. The inspectors’ report to the minister is expected within two weeks.
The inspection was initiated in response to a parliamentary question presented on 18 December by Forza Italia group leader in the Senate Maurizio Gasparri. Gasparri expressed concerns about the administration of the drug triptorelin at the Careggi hospital in Florence, stating that it was being done without respecting the procedures identified by the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA).
Following the parliamentary question, Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci sent inspectors to the facility to verify the “paths relating to the treatment of children with gender dysphoria and the use of the drug triptorelin”.
Triptorelin is a drug used to block some aspects of pubertal development and is used to accompany experiences of gender variance during childhood and adolescence. It is used to support individuals who do not feel comfortable in the gender socially assigned at birth or who do not conform to the social rules that assignment implies.
The findings of the audit are eagerly awaited as stakeholders are seeking clarity on the protocol followed at the hospital in treating gender dysphoria in children, particularly in relation to the use of triptorelin.