Sensitisation drive for hosp staff on transgender patients' rights
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Kolkata: Shahanawaz, a transgender (TG) woman, was taken to SSKM Hospital with acute abdominal pain caused by appendicitis. The Alipore resident alleged that even while she was in extreme pain, doctors at the emergency department kept whispering to each other and offered her only a painkiller.
Unable to bear the excruciating pain, she went to a nursing home to get her appendix removed.
"I could understand they were discussing my gender and where to admit me. I was then rushed to a nursing home as the treatment was delayed. This was five years ago. But nothing much has changed since then," said Shahanawaz.
Shahanawaz is not alone; the TG community at large faces multiple problems in accessing healthcare services.
The fear of being rejected and the negative experiences they face force many to shun medical care unless it is an emergency situation.
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"There is no doubt that TG persons face a lot of hurdles while seeking medical attention due to a lack of sensitisation. It is a painful experience for them. This sensitisation has to percolate down to the lowest rung of healthcare providers from the top," said Kaustav Nayak, director of the Institute of Health & Family Welfare Kolkata, during a sensitisation programme at Swasthya Bhawan.
Organised by the department of psychiatric social work, Institute of Psychiatry (IOP) IPGMER, and National Institute of Social Defense (TG division), doctors, paramedics, and even security guards of govt hospitals attended the three-day-long programme.
"From being bullied in school because of our gender identity, which does not fall into the binary, to discrimination at hospitals, life is tough for a TG person," said Kajal Roy, who dropped out of school.
Anuprabha Das Mazumder, another TG woman, said she was forced to get her dengue treatment done in a cabin of a private hospital in 2022, even though she would have opted for a ward as her condition was not serious.
"Apart from two private hospitals – one with a TG clinic and the other reserving one or two beds for patients from the community, there is no structured policy that would ensure equitable healthcare access, especially in public healthcare systems," said Bappaditya Mukherjee, of Prantakatha, an organisation that works on gender issues and also runs a clinic for the TG community.
Mayank Kumar, assistant professor at IOP's department of psychiatric social work, hopes that such sensitisation programmes will evoke acceptable behaviour from the healthcare community. Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Manish Mukul Ghosh deliberated on the facts of sex reassignment surgery that many from the community undergo.
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