A transgender person’s family has filed a complaint at Kolkata’s Phoolbagan police station, seeking an FIR for medical negligence during a gender reassignment surgery at a city hospital. According to the complaint, the patient was not just subjected to medical negligence but also to harassment at the institute. The patient’s father has accused the hospital authorities of physical assault, discrimination and transphobic attacks. He has also questioned the competence of the doctor who performed the surgery and the preparedness of the nursing home in dealing with such sensitive issues pertaining to a transgender person.
Gender reassignment surgery is a surgical procedure, or a set of procedures, by which a transgender person’s physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble those socially associated with their identified gender.
In the complaint letter, the father has mentioned that the doctor who performed the operation introduced himself as an experienced surgeon. However, the surgery that was performed on the patient was unsuccessful. He also mentioned that following the operation, the doctor or the “hospital authorities neither have shown any cooperation nor did they find it important to inform them about the next line of medical action or relief”.
A phalloplasty operation was also performed, after which the patient complained of discomfort. On reporting this to the doctor, the medical team carried out two more operations that took around 18 hours. The surgeries were not just unsuccessful but they also deteriorated the patient’s health further, causing unbearable pain, the family has alleged.
Speaking to CNN-News18 about the incident, transgender activist Ranjita Das said, “The operation on the patient was wrongly performed, no guideline was followed and the hospital has been completely negligent about this.”