Telangana’s first transgender doctors fight odds, rise like a phoenix

 HYDERABAD: Dr Praachi Rathod, armed with a stethoscope and a wide grin, sits in a brightly-coloured makeshift tent in the sprawling expanse of Phoenix Arena, tucked in the woods of the buzzing financial district and sandwiched between a line of office buildings in Hitec City.

Monitoring a patient's pulse and examining an X-ray of the lungs on a rather quiet Saturday, she asks the patient, "Do you smoke or drink?", immediately recommending that the patient stop the harmful habits.

Involved in the one-day medical camp jointly organised by Mitr Clinic, the nation's first transgender healthcare clinic, and Queer Nilayam, an NGO that works for LGBTQ community, were Dr Praachi and Dr Ruth John Paul, two of Telangana's first government transgender doctors working at the Osmania General Hospital in Afzalgunj.

They claim it was a modest effort to assist their community in addressing medical issues and sensitising them about gender dysphoria, HIV and related issues.

Like the young patient, Dr Praachi has struggled with gender identity for many years, and as someone who has faced many slurs and name-calling throughout her life, hearing people greet her as a doctor with respect has been gratifying in recent years.

"They called me names, but now they'll address me as a doctor," says Praachi.

"As I began transitioning in medical school, I realised there was a significant gap in our community's healthcare system. The transgender community does not have adequate access to healthcare, which includes gender affirming surgery, gender affirming hormonal therapy, psychiatric counselling or specialised care," says Dr Praachi.

Born in the lambada community in Adilabad's backward Uknoor mandal (Telangana-Maharashtra border), she earned her MBBS from the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) and a diploma in emergency medicine from a private hospital.

She asserted her gender identity at RIMS, though only after enduring taunts from her schooling years through college in institutions of Adilabad, Nizamabad and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, where she even attempted suicide.

After her MBBS, Praachi had sought employment in at least 16 private hospitals with no favourable response, citing her gender being a barrier, and a super-speciality hospital bluntly rejected her on the justification that her gender "would hamper the hospital's image".

"Transgender and gender nonconforming people suffer injustice everywhere they go, including in education-promising systems, at the hands of employers, property owners, and in every conceivable setting," says Dr Ruth. Despite this, both doctors emerged stronger from their gender conflict.

According to Dr Praachi, the ability to fall is not what defines a person; rather, it is how quickly they can get up off the ground, "like a phoenix". Both doctors take pride in being of the 'other gender' while helping others of their own who are struggling to cope with their identity and health issues.

"When I joined Osmania General Hospital's ART (antiretroviral therapy) department and eventually elevated as chief medical officer, Upasana Kamineni madam offered me a job. It was such a warm and reassuring gesture from her. After a lifetime of grappling with gender identity and societal persecution, these are my defining moments and happiest memories," says Dr Praachi.

Both doctors won their initial gender identity battles, but have yet to win the legal battle to secure an MD seat. Although both cracked the NEET PG exam, they failed to secure an MD seat as the government's counselling listed them as females, which they refuse to accept, citing a Supreme Court judgement that upholds transgender people's classification as 'third gender.'

Dr Ruth used a Bible verse to illustrate that everyone is created equal, but faces the Orwellian conundrum of why some people are more equal than others. "All we're asking is that the government act in the same manner as it does for everyone else. We are requesting that the transgender community be taken into account by government schemes like Aarogyashri, and all the other benefits that the two genders avail of," she says.

Dr Ruth John Paul

With transgender people routinely sniggered or leered at when approaching a healthcare professional or going to a hospital or clinic, Dr Praachi's dream is to open a hospital exclusively for transgender people, which she hopes to realise in the next three months with the support of the government, NGOs, and wealthy donors.