Doctor has vendetta against me: transgender rights activist
Rights activist accuses psychiatrist of cutting ties with her after dispute at hospital
A transgender rights activist has accused one of the city's foremost experts on gender identity disorders of carrying out a personal vendetta against her because she complained about a nurse at a local hospital.
"Angel", who recently made her full transition to become a woman with sex reassignment surgery, lodged a complaint against psychiatrist Dr Gregory Mak Kai-lok with the equality watchdog yesterday.
Angel, 25, claims that Mak victimised her by following through on threats he made in April and that the evidence is in an e-mail he sent in October.
Mak, 35, last night denied the claims, describing them as "just made up" and "not true".
"My main interest is to serve transgender patients because they're a minority group," he said. "That's why I feel so disappointed about the accusations."
Angel, a transgender rights advocate with sexual minorities group Rainbow for Hong Kong, claims that Mak e-mailed her in October to say that he could no longer accept referrals from her.
"I strongly feel that it was revenge," she said.
In April, Angel lodged a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission after a nurse at the Prince of Wales Hospital's psychiatric clinic loudly called her "Mr" in public, despite her appearance as a woman.
A day before, Angel said, Mak called her and threatened to cut ties with her by refusing any transgender patients that she referred to him if she went through with the complaint.
Mak denies making that call or asking Angel to withdraw the complaint. The doctor, who was transferred from Prince of Wales Hospital to Castle Peak Hospital last November, said his e-mail in October simply reflected hospital policy that referrals could be accepted only if the patient lived close to the hospital.
When he was at Prince of Wales, his supervisors had allowed him to accept referrals from across Hong Kong, but management at his new location did not allow this, he said.
"I'm just following the policy," Mak said. One of Angel's demands is that Mak write a public letter, apologising to her. "I won't entertain that," he said.
Angel's claim comes under disability discrimination laws, which define victimisation as someone being treated less favourably. A Hospital Authority spokesman confirmed it would be investigating her claims.
