Cases of gender identity disorder (GID) are on the increase in Bihar, reveal top andrologists of the country Dr Suresh Kotwal and Dr Vijay Kulkari.
"We have been receiving queries from quite a significant number of people from this State expressing their desire to change their sex," the andrologists said. They are in Patna in connection with the urology conference.
Explaining the term GID, Dr Kotwal, who is attached with the Sitaram Bhartiya Institute, New Delhi, said that persons with this kind of disorder are called transsexuals, whose sexual identification is entirely with the opposite sex.
Body wise they are normal but mentally they feel that they have been trapped in a wrong body and want to change their sex for leading a comfortable life.
"Two persons from Patna, one male and another female, have already approached me for the gender reassignment surgery (GRS), and they are under investigations," said Kotwal, who has up till now successfully performed four surgeries of gender reassignment (three from male to female and one from female to male).
Kotwal, who is in Patna in connection with the 40th annual conference of the Urological Society of India (USI) told HT that the GID is a very difficult condition, where the repair cannot be done overnight.
"The entire procedure of GRS takes more than one year," he said adding, "Before undertaking the cases, we recommend them to psychiatrists for ascertaining whether they are actually suffering from GID." The psychiatrist would have to certify that whether after the GRS the patient would feel better with another gender identity, said Kulkari, who is attached with the SL Raheja Hospital, Mumbai.
{{/usCountry}}"The entire procedure of GRS takes more than one year," he said adding, "Before undertaking the cases, we recommend them to psychiatrists for ascertaining whether they are actually suffering from GID." The psychiatrist would have to certify that whether after the GRS the patient would feel better with another gender identity, said Kulkari, who is attached with the SL Raheja Hospital, Mumbai.
{{/usCountry}}The andrologists said that after receiving the certificate from the psychiatrist, the patient would be advised to remain at least one year with the opposite sex. "Only then the GRS is performed by a team called gender identity dysphoria," Kotwal said.
They said that GID is not a social problem but purely a medical condition. "We recommend GRS for those GID patients, who are really desirous for a change of sex and they are above 18 years of age," they said.