In battle for equality, trans persons train as bedside attenders
Jasmine (in blue) with an doctor from the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI). — DC
Hyderabad: Hospitals in Hyderabad will soon see transgender bedside attenders.
Trained by the Inner Wheel Club, Secunderabad, their employment will help counter segregation and degradation of the trans community.
The club had been working with various communities, disabled, destitute women and widows for years. “Our next project was to work towards integrating transgender people. Despite several laws, they are looked down upon and segregated,” said Jayanthi Kannan, president of the club.
With integration as the goal, the club spoke to the transgender community at large and its leaders before zeroing in on training them to be bedside attenders. They have already trained three people in the previous batch that started a couple of months ago and the current batch has 15 members.
Currently, CC Shroff Hospital in Barkatpura and Osmania Hospital have transgender bedside attenders. “We have been in talks with a few hospitals who have opened their doors to us. We have also been counselling hospitals and the trainees about how to take things in their strife and not react emotionally in case of any discrimination,” said Seema Kumari, an executive committee member of the club.
Jasmine, one of the beneficiaries of the programme, who works with a clinic in Suraram, said that the minimum qualification required for the training is a matriculation degree. “One needs to know the basics of English and math to measure things like blood pressure, thermometer, administering medicine, glucose tests, bathing, and bedmaking,” Jasmine said.
While there have been programmes to train transgender beauticians and tailors, this was one area that the club believed could help end discrimination.
Asked if things changed, Jasmine said, “More than acceptance, it’s about being empowered with skills that can enable us to leave sex work. When more of us work in various professions, that’s when real change comes about.
- 15 workers being trained as bedside attendants
- CC Shroff Hospital and Osmania Hospital currently employ transgender attendants
- Training aims to liberate them from degradation and segregation
- Matriculation is the minimum qualification to be trained as an attendant
- More than acceptance, it’s about being empowered with skills that can enable us to leave sex work. When more of us work in various professions, that’s when real change comes about” – Jasmine, a trans person, who works with a clinic in Suraram
