Mumbai: After a successful genital reconstruction surgery (GRS) that transformed Beed police constable Lalita (29) to Lalit Salve, state-run St George Hospital has been receiving many inquiries for the same. One of those 12 cases is of a five-year-old child from Beed. This has led to debate on whether such procedures could be carried out on minors, who are not in a position to give an informed consent. Parents of the child, who was raised as a girl in Beed’s Majalgaon village, are carrying out documentation to change the child’s name, identity she will carry after the surgery, planned in the first week of September.
The kid’s father, Sayyed Mohammad Khan, a rickshaw driver, said the child was born at Shri Swami Samarth Hospital in Beed on September 18, 2013. “We were told it was a girl. There was no reason to doubt that as her genitals looked like those of a female child.”
Mr Khan further said, “In 2016, the child developed an infection, for which they sought a doctor’s opinion. The doctor informed us that it was a male child. They advised several tests and referred us to a bigger hospital but we didn’t pursue it further due to financial difficulties”
Plastic surgeon Dr Rajat Kapoor from St George’s Hospital, who has carried out more than 70 GRS in the past 10 years, said a Karyotype (a chromosome identity) study shows the child has the presence of male XY chromosomes. “The detailed medical evaluation revealed the presence of male genital organs such as testes- a male reproductive organ, and the absence of female internal organs. The genitalia looked like that of a female due to underdevelopment.”
Dr Madhukar Gaikwad, medical superintendent of hospital said, “Since the kid is small and unable to understand, now there are congenital abnormalities which were not detected by the father. If the surgery is delayed there would be recursion.”
Dr Satya Nagpaul, founder of Sampoorna, a network of trans and intersex Indians, said, “I don’t think that requires a surgery to ‘normalise’ organs. Ideally, let the child grow to take a decision and family should be given assistance.”
GRS procedure
One has to undergo Mastectomy for removal of both breasts. Hysterectomy is performed for removal of the uterus. Bilateral Salpingo Oophorectomy (BSO) involves the removal of both ovaries and fallopian tubes.
Vaginectomy involves removal or obliteration of the vagina. These procedures are carried out endosmotically and leave no scars.
The next step of the sex reassignment surgery involves construction of the penis. Usually, it is done by removal of the flap from the forearm called the back flap, which is then used to create the penis and the urethra inside. Blood cells taken from the forearm are then planted into the newly assembled penis.
