The transgender clinic in Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), which was inaugurated in 2021, completes two years this month.
The journey has been a learning experience for the doctors in the team and it is slowly becoming a prototype for other centres in south India.
According to Dean A. Rathinavel, “we simplified the procedures needed for gender affirmation surgery by tapping legal flexibility as many of the transgendered people had no identity proof issued by the government. As the surgery comes within the ambit of Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, we ensured that the various certificates needed were given at the earliest. In the government sector, our clinic stands first in South India for having performed the highest number of such surgeries.”
Every Thursdays, an exclusive outpatient ward for transgenders functions with a team of five doctors, who are involved in the transition process, assemble on the ground floor of the old block.
Dr. Sridhar, the endocrinologist and head of the centre, says as of now about 600 transgenders have visited the clinic with surgeries having been performed on 141 persons. “It was a surprise that more transmen (from female to male) have come forward to undergo the surgery, with 111 surgeries having been performed, this includes bilateral mastectomy (removal of breasts) for 105 and hysterectomy (removal of uterus) for six. Surgery has been performed for 30 transwomen, including breast implant for 25, penectomy (removal of penis) for three and vaginoplasty for two,” he says.
Illyarasi from Dharmapuri is recuperating on the first floor in an exclusive ward for transgenders after undergoing a breast implant. A traditional folk dancer, she teaches dance to government school students. She says though there is a multi-speciality transgender clinic at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, their first choice is the clinic in Madurai.
“I earn about ₹400 a day and if I go to a private clinic for breast implant, I have to pay more than ₹1 lakh. Since the surgeries are covered under the insurance scheme, it is free and in GRH we feel comfortable as all the doctors sit in the same wing and every procedure is explained in detail before we start the therapy.”
Archana, who has also undergone the surgery, has come all the way from Tiruvallur district, and she says it was due to the comfort level they feel with the doctors and nurses at the GRH that many opt to come here.
Mahikutti, who works in a textile unit in Tenkasi, a transman and he is recuperating after a bilateral mastectomy. Though he does not live with his parents, they are aware of the surgery and the owner of the company has also given him leave to undergo it. He is happy that there is much awareness among the people now.
But Dr. Sridhar says awareness should start from the family and school as it is during the adolescence stage that the transformation begins.
Priya Babu, who runs Transgender Resource Centre in Madurai, says the centre in GRH has been doing a tremendous amount of work. “We hope the clinic runs for one more day in a week and a help desk is also set up. Distribution of pamphlets in regional languages on the procedures involved will also help the community,” she says and adds that if a space is provided for a help desk “we are ready to run it.”
On their part, the hospital administration has initiated talks with social welfare department to focus on their rehabilitation. “We hope they are taught an exclusive trade and a small-scale unit is started at a specific place which will also take care of their housing needs. If only the rehabilitation process is complete and the individual is ready to get rehabilitated, the work which we have begun at the centre will bear fruit,” says Dr. Rathinavel
