When “she” was wheeled into the operation theatre for the third time, 7-year-old Rama had no idea that very soon she would be a part of medical history.
This week, the doctors at the Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University (CSMMU) finally declared that Rama was now fit to be called Ramendra — the girl had transformed into a boy after a series of surgeries to correct the inter-sex disorder.
Rama was born as a female child in Rae Bareli district in 2003. According to her father Sarjan Prasad, the child showed an unexpected growth near the genitals when she was about seven months old.
He took her to several doctors before finally arriving at CSMMU.
According to Prof S.N. Kureel, head of paediatric surgery department, when the child’s hormone profile and karyotyping was done it was found that the child was a male. Other tests revealed that the male organs were also present while the female organs were under-developed.
She was admitted under Prof Kureel, who, after intensive tests and examinations, found the girl to be suffering from a rare kind of congenital disorder.
“Due to lack of awareness, this condition is perceived as ‘unnatural’ and the individual in termed a eunuch. But if the disorder is identified in the first year of birth, the condition can be corrected and Rama is a living example of this,” he told reporters.
Once the situation was clear, a strategy was devised.
The doctor initiated the treatment by correcting the hormonal imbalance which paved the way for a three-phased surgical procedure. The first one involved normalising the male organs. In the second stage, tissues from the oral cavity was extracted and transferred to give a further shape to the genitals. A urine pipe was made while the vagina was removed in the last stage.
The child is now called for examination on a regular basis so that any emerging abnormality can be dealt with.
Prof Kureel, while explaining the reasons for this disorder, said that though the sex of the child is decided at the time of conception, but it may alter during the process of growth.
“Exposure of the foetus to opposite sex hormones may trigger this change. The reasons could be due to indiscriminate intake of medicines by the mother, exposure to toxins, pollutants or heavy metals like lead, women taking contraceptive pills being unaware of the pregnancy and excessive intake of cola among others,” he stated.
Rama, rather Ramendra, is blissfully unaware of his changed condition.