Cop out of hospital after genital reconstruction
MUMBAI: Lalit Salve, a constable from Beed who had undergone the first round of genital reconstructive surgery, was discharged on Tuesday.
Doctors who performed the surgery have advised him to rest for a week, following which he can resume work.
Salve was admitted to St George’s Hospital on May 22 . He will travel to Beed with his parents, who have been in the city since the day of the surgery.
Dr Rajat Kapoor, who performed the surgery, said: “We will call him again after six months so that we can create the full urethra.”
Brought up as a woman since childhood, Salve took a genetic test — karyotyping — that established his gender identity as male. Salve had moved the Bombay high court in November 2017, seeking a month’s leave to undergo ‘gender reassignment surgery’.
A panel of doctors was formed at Sir JJ hospital to evaluate the case. “Since the cop’s genitals resembled that of a female, the family may have got confused,” said a doctor, who was part of the panel.
During the first round of the three-hour surgery on May 25, doctors at St George’s Hospital initiated the process to elongate Salve’s urethra by creating a tissue conduit.
It will take nearly a year and a half to complete all surgeries, said Dr Madhukar Gaikwad, medical superintendent at the hospital.
Later, a hair transplant procedure will be conducted to give Salve a moustache and a beard. “We will ask Salve what shape he likes, depending on which we will do the transplant,” Kapoor said.
Though Salve could have been discharged three days ago, doctors said the process got delayed because social workers at the hospital were arranging for funds to pay the bill.
“As Salve was kept in a VIP room, a bill of around Rs12,000 needs to be paid. We wanted to perform the surgery for free,” Kapoor said.
The surgery was performed on May 26 and since then Salve has been recovering in the hospital.
The incidence of partially developed genitals is 1 in 1000, said doctors.