“My child needs justice...she underwent a lot of pain and struggle… yet I lost her,” S Alexander sounds drained as he talks to TNM, just after attending a protest gathering in front of Renai Medicity, a private hospital in the city, organised by the transgender community. It is against this hospital, Anannyah Kumari Alex, a 28-year-old trans woman, had raised allegations of medical negligence in the media a few days ago. On July 20, she was found dead suspectedly by suicide, in her apartment in Kochi. Amid the controversies over the allegations that Anannyah raised earlier, her distraught father Alexander, has raised more allegations about the hospital. Speaking to TNM, Alexander alleges that Anannya was pushed out of the hospital twice, being denied treatment.
It was in an interview to The Cue that Anannyah had shared her painful experience allegedly after a sex reassignment surgery that was conducted in the hospital last year. Stating that the surgery did not give the promised result, she had said that she was suffering severe discomforts and illness due to the surgery for the past one year.
“For the past one year, she had been going through a lot of struggle. With constant illness, she was not even able to go to work, struggling to make ends meet,” says Alexander. He also recalls how Anannyah was pushed out of the hospital, when approached for treatment.
“Once, following the surgery, late evening, she fell severely ill and her friend had taken her to the hospital. But the hospital authorities did not allow her to see the doctor. They pushed her out. In another instance also, she was similarly pushed out of the hospital when she questioned why she was not allowed to meet the doctor. Anannyah had herself told me about these instances,” says her father.
Demanding justice, he says that he urged the state government to bring those responsible for the death of Anannyah before the law. “Even within these past 10 days, she and her advocate had approached the hospital multiple times wanting to access the treatment details. But they were not responding. I don’t have anything much to say, I have lost my child. She needs justice,” Alexander adds.
From difficulty in standing, sitting, laughing or even crying, due to the severe pain she experienced, Anannyah had said in The Cue interview, “I have also been experiencing breathing difficulties. I had wished for a sex reassignment surgery that will give me a vagina like a woman’s... but my private part looks as if it has been cut ruthlessly with a knife. It cannot be called a vagina. It is a surgery which is conducted very neatly and cleanly in India and elsewhere. I’m standing before you as a victim of gross medical negligence.”
She had also alleged that she could not pass urine properly following the surgery.
While the Health Minister of Kerala, Veena George, has ordered a probe into the death of the trans woman, Renai Medicity, in a statement, denied the allegations.
The hospital, in the statement, says that Anannyah was satisfied with the surgery during her discharge and that after about six months she approached the hospital, saying she did not get the expected results. “She had also complained that she could not pass urine properly. After diagnosis, it was said that another minor surgery was also needed. A person like Anannyah was aware of such follow up treatments after sex rearrangement surgery. But this was alleged to be medical negligence and money was demanded,” the statement says.
Hospital authorities also add that a medical board (of the same hospital) found that there has been no medical negligence. Notably, the hospital says that they had promised they would give her medical records if she wants to proceed legally. However, this is alleged to be otherwise by Anannyah in her interview, and her father who talked to TNM.