Six months after a 28-year-old transgender activist died by suicide allegedly due to medical complications from her sex re-assignment surgery, the Kerala government on Monday ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident.
The activist underwent the surgery at a private hospital in Ernakulam in 2020. According to those close to her, she approached the same hospital with post-surgery complications but received no treatment. They said the severe physical discomfort she was facing led her to die by suicide. Three days after the incident, her male partner was also found dead in Kochi.
On Monday, the government directed the additional director of health to make a detailed inquiry and submit a report in a month’s time.
The government announced its decision in a circular.
The private hospital said it will co-operative with the probe. “We have inquired about the incident when allegations cropped up last year. We found all procedures and formalities were met during the operation and she was also given enough counselling. Let the government probe it again,” said a hospital spokesman.
“There is no uniform protocol in sex re-assignment surgeries and LGBTQ community members often end up in traps set up by private hospitals. We need ethical committees to end this exploitation. We need a proper protocol, standard and treatment methodology,” said Syama S Prabha, state transgender justice board member.
Activists say Section 15 of the Transgender Act stipulates that the government provide various health care facilities for transgender people such as sex re-assignment surgeries, hormonal therapy and treatment and separate sero surveillance centres but that the implementation is lethargic and abysmal.
“Hospitals need qualified healthcare professionals associated with sex re-assignment surgery equipped with queer affirmative surgical and counselling practices. We need a health manual guided by world professional association for transgender health guidelines,” said activist Renju who used only one name. Renju added that many private hospitals view such surgeries as a money-making exercise.
Kerala was the first state to formulate a transgender policy in 2015 aimed at ending discrimination against members of the community. In 2017, it also set up a transgender justice board to deal with their complaints and a separate column called “third sex” was introduced in birth and death registration forms in the state.
It was also made mandatory for all government buildings to have separate washrooms for the third sex.
According to the transgender board, there are at least 35,000 trans-sexual persons in Kerala. Activists working in the area say more work is required to bring them into the mainstream.
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