Does Castle Hospital Perform Surgeries to Change Girls into Boys?

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A video of Buddhist monk Venerable Elle Gunawansa Thero speaking on the Hiru TV channel, claiming that female-to-male surgeries are being performed at Castle Hospital, has been widely circulating on social media in Sri Lanka. 

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Fact-Check:

The Sinhala video below shows Venerable Elle Gunawansa Thero speaking on the Hiru TV program “Salakuna” on 20 May 2026, where he claimed that surgeries to convert females to males are being carried out at several hospitals, including Castle Street Women’s Hospital in Colombo.

However, Thero’s claim extended beyond Castle Hospital, he stated that such surgeries are being performed at other hospitals as well.

Director of Castle Street Women’s Hospital

Dr. Ajith Dantanarayana, Director of Castle Street Women’s Hospital, issued the following statement to the Director General of Health Services, confirming that the claim is false, highlighting that no such procedures are performed at Castle Hospital, and that he would fully support any investigation into the matter.

Castle Street Women’s Hospital is one of the country’s leading government maternity hospitals and its main functions are to conduct obstetrics and gynecology clinics for pregnant mothers, perform safe deliveries, and provide successful free medical treatment and sperm banking services for those suffering from infertility (childlessness). For this reason, Buddhist monks had previously accused the hospital  of using this method to produce children for homosexuals.

Nevertheless, since Castle Hospital caters to infants and women, we made further inquiries with the Director of Castle Street Women’s Hospital to clarify whether surgeries are performed there on children born with differences in their external genitalia at birth – a condition known as intersex, or scientifically as Disorders of Sex Development – DSD conditions in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Ajith Dantanarayana confirmed that the hospital does not perform surgeries or any other treatments either for women who wish to change their gender, or for young children born with DSD conditions. He also stated that the hospital has only specialists in obstetrics and gynecology.

Former Director of Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo

We asked Dr. Wijesuriya, the former director of the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo, whether such surgeries have been performed on children, which he firmly denied.

He further clarified that Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital treats children born with minor external genital differences at birth, not full DSD conditions. However, surgeries that completely alter a person’s biological sex are not performed there.

Several doctors told us that hormone treatment and surgery (Gender Affirming Surgery / SRS) are performed in private hospitals in Sri Lanka for transgender adults who wish to voluntarily change their gender and that there are official medical centers operating exclusively for transgender individuals in the private sector in Sri Lanka as well.

However, these surgeries are not performed immediately. They are carried out only after a rigorous medical and psychological evaluation process, including initial consultation through the plastic surgery department and psychiatric clinics, followed by referral for hormone therapy. The Sri Lankan Ministry of Health formulated the necessary legal and medical policies for gender recognition and reassignment services through special circulars issued in 2016.

Although surgeries such as mastectomy and breast augmentation are common in Sri Lanka, many in the transgender community say that complex gender reconstruction surgeries are not widely available due to limited specialist facilities and experience. Because of this, some Sri Lankans receive hormone treatment locally and travel to countries like Thailand for the final surgeries.

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Conclusion:

The Director of Castle Street Women’s Hospital has confirmed that the claim made by Venerable Elle Gunawansa Thero on a Hiru TV programme, stating that surgeries are being performed at Castle Hospital to change girls into boys, is false. 

However, hormone treatment and gender affirming surgery for adults who voluntarily wish to change their gender are available in private hospitals in Sri Lanka. Children born with minor differences in their external genitalia are treated at the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital, though complete biological sex-change surgeries are not performed there either.