Trans Doctors to Move Telangana HC seeking permission to pursue higher studies as Third Gender
Hyderabad: After creating history by joining the Osmania General Hospital as the first transgender doctors, Dr. Prachi Rathore and Ruth John Paul Koyyala are preparing to take their battle forward and approach the High Court seeking permission to pursue higher education as "third gender".
Although both of them had qualified the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) Examination last year, they were denied seats under the transgender category.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported how these two doctors had created history by becoming the first transgender doctors joining as medical officers at State-run Osmania General Hospital (OGH) in Telangana.
Both of them- Dr. Prachi Rathod and Dr. John Paul completed medicine by overcoming challenges in their personal life. Among them, Dr. Rathod had gone to Delhi to pursue post-graduation but she had to return to Hyderabad because of unfavourable environment. However, she did a diploma in emergency medicine while working in a hospital.
Dr. Rathod also worked in a super-specialty hospital in the city for three years but was thrown out of the job due to gender as the hospital felt that it might hamper the flow of patients. A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) came to the rescue and Rathod worked in a clinic run by the NGO and later secured a job in the OGH.
While both Dr. Rathod and Dr. John Paul had cleared NEET-PG examination last year, they were denied their seats under the transgender category. They had been considered in the state counselling list as students belonging to female category. However at the national level, one of them had secured a post-graduate medical seat as 'both male and female'
Speaking about this, Dr. Rathod, who had secured a seat for MD Biochemistry at ESI Medical College in Faridabad told Indian Express, "I don't understand what 'both male and female' mean. If I wanted to go with my male identity as mentioned in my certificates, I would have chosen that. But I have applied for the NEET and got qualified under the transgender category."
Both of them had been informed by the Dr. Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) that their MBBS certificates and their identities in their government documents did not match.
Narrating the issue, Dr. Koyyala added, "I explained to them that I am a transwoman though my MBBS degree and other certificates had a male name. I shared with them my transgender ID certificate given by the Telangana government and yet they included me under the female category."
The doctors revealed that in the allotment process as well, the option for the third gender is missing. While commenting on this, Dr. Rathod added, "Even after I explained to KNUHS that I am a transgender woman now and shared my transwoman ID, they allotted me a seat in MD Pharmacology under the female category."
She further informed that being uncomfortable to pursue higher education as a female, she was exploring legal options for challenging the situation before the court.
Speaking about their bygone days of struggle, Dr. Rathod mentioned how at one point she was extremely depressed and suicidal and was considering even the option of begging on the streets or joining the sex work. Narrating her tales of harassment, she further mentioned how a city-based corporate hospital had fired her from the job because of her gender identity.
"The hospital administration just told me not to come to work from the next day. I felt it was very disrespectful of them to not consider my three years of work and send me away based on my gender. It was disrespectful to my education too," added Dr Rathod.
The journey had not been easy for Dr. Koyyala as well. She informed the daily how her mother had stopped talking to her the day she revealed her gender identity around eight years ago. Since then, she has been living in Hyderabad and pursued her MBBS from Malla Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad
"It has been my dream since I was 8 to become a doctor. I studied hard and struggled at every level because of how people treated me. After completing my MBBS in 2018, at least 20 hospitals have rejected me. They looked at my appearance and mention of transgender in my resume," she mentioned.
Things took a turn for good back in 2020 when both of them had been posted as medical officers at Mitr – USAID's transgender clinic in Hyderabad. Dr. Koyyala explained, "Though it was a part-time job of three days a week with a four-hour work shift, this was our bread and butter."
They expressed their gratitude to TSACS (Telangana State Aids Control Society) and the administration of Osmania General Hospital for their present job. "We hope sexual minorities are considered and reservations are given as per the NALSA judgment of 2014. We request the governments to consider our PG seats as supernumerary seats (seats over and above the sanctioned intake) as the medical counselling is already over," added Dr Rathod.
Also Read: Transgender persons to get healthcare services under Ayushman Bharat
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