Kasturba Medical College, Manipal is working on steps to include the transgender community in its campus and hospital. KMC's dean Dr Sharath Kumar Rao announced this plan at the Transcare Campus Connect event. KMC will also commemorate the International Day of Transgender Remembrance which is observed to remember the transgender lives lost.
This decision has been taken by the colleges in view of the recent verdicts from the Madras High Court, Kerala High Court, and a directive from the National Medical Commission which says to create an inclusive teaching material in medical education. Authorities have highlighted how the current medical curriculum has content that is derogatory to the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Transcare Campus Connect event was organised in partnership with the TransCare MedEd team which works on creating a transgender-affirmative health provision. A booklet titled 'Colours Among Us' was also released in the event by Dr Rao. The booklet is available online sangath.in/transcare-resources.
"The medical curriculum does not equip students to provide sensitive care to transgender persons. In fact, it desensitizes them, and many doctors currently provide care that is colored by discrimination, stigma, and abuse," said Dr Kirtana R Nayak, chief organizer of the event and Head of the department of Medical Education, KMC Manipal.
Dr Sharath Kumar Rao said, "If not now, when? If not us, who?." He further highlighted how institutes like KMC Manipal and university campuses such as MAHE must take leadership in this regard. He spoke about the efforts taken by the institute in disability inclusion and that a similar initiative will be taken towards trans inclusion through consultations and dialogue in a time-bound manner.
Dr Aqsa Shaikh, a leading trans advocate, a community medicine specialist, and a transgender woman, who spoke from her own life and emphasized the need for trans-inclusion and sensitization to start from schools, through medical colleges and further in workplaces and at homes also expressed her opinion in the event and said: "Unfortunately, parents often become the enemy of the child. Gender is often forced on a child based on their sex assigned at birth. Parents need to talk about gender with their children. Campuses need to enable conversations and inclusion."
