Gender reassignment: Hospital demands child’s Aadhaar before surgery

ST GEORGE HOSPITAL TO PERFORM OPERATION FOR FREE BUT FAMILY NEEDS MONEY FOR TRAVEL, OTHER EXPENSES

The five-year-old slated to undergo gender reassignment at St George Hospital will have to wait, as hospital authorities have instructed the family to obtain an Aadhaar card for the child.

“Since the child has no birth certificate or any identification proof, we cannot perform surgery. We have asked the father to make an Aadhaar card or obtain a birth certificate for the a child,” said a doctor.

The child's father, Mohammad Khan said the family has no basic identification proof such as a birth certificate as they were confused about the gender of the baby at birth. The baby was raised as a girl but only recently did they learn the child was male, after being informed by a doctor in Beed district. “I came to Mumbai to collect the blood reports and consult doctors on the surgery to be performed on my child. They have prescribed hormone injections for the child and also instructed me to make basic identification proof for the child,” Khan added.

The child was born in 2013 and was being raised as a girl. Three years later, the parents realised something was amiss when the child began to scratch her genitals. A Beed doctor asked us to get her blood test done in Mumbai.

"We are not very educated and these things are new to us. When I went to have the child's Aadhaar card made, I was asked to select a gender. But I didn't know what to write because I suspected the child may be a male. So, I returned without filling the forms. For the same reason, I could not admit him to a school. His elder sister teaches him at home," added Khan.

Though the hospital is bearing all expenses for the surgery because Khan is strapped for cash. He is a truck driver by profession. “I hardly have any savings. Though the hospital is helping us financially, I need around Rs50,000-1 lakh just for travelling and take care of other medical needs. So, I am just begging for help me," Khan added.