Dr. Prachi Rathore smashes stereotypes, becomes India’s first transgender person to pursue MS Orthopaedics

Dr. Prachi Rathore is India's first transgender doctor to secure admission at a govt college for MS in Orthopaedics. She is the fourth individual from the transgender community to make strides in the medical field. Prachi is set to start classes at Govt Medical College Nizamabad on Oct 9. She hopes to join as an Assistant Professor in a few years. Her counselling process was successful due to a petition to the state high court. Prachi completed her MBBS in 2014 and faced discrimination in private hospitals until 2018. She then joined Mitr Clinic and OGH in 2021 and 2022 respectively. She is joined by Dr Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju and Dr Aqsa Shaikh in the medical field.

Battling years of personal discrimination, Dr. Prachi Rathore has become country’s first transgender doctor to secure admission at a government college for a Master of Surgery (MS) in Orthopaedics.

Dr. Prachi’s academic journey includes completing her MBBS from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Adilabad in 2014. Despite initial challenges, including discontinuing her diploma in Emergency Medicine due to discrimination, she found solace as an Emergency Physician in private hospitals in Hyderabad until 2018. However, after disclosing her gender identity, she faced exclusion from the private hospitals. In 2021, she joined the Mitr Clinic, catering to the health needs of the transgender community and conducting sensitisation programmes in various healthcare facilities. Encouraged by Superintendent of Osmania General Hospital B. Nagender, Dr. Prachi joined OGH in 2022.

Currently serving as a Medical Officer at Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, Dr. Prachi is the fourth individual from the transgender community to make strides in the medical field. Dr. Ruth John Paul, also a Medical Officer at OGH, secured a spot at ESI Hospital and Medical College Sanath Nagar for an MD in Emergency Medicine course back in August.

Dr. Prachi is set to embark on her educational journey at Government Medical College Nizamabad. Scheduled to commence classes on October 9, Dr. Prachi’s government quota placement ensures minimal fees. Sharing her aspiration, she stated: “I’ll soon step down from my role as a Medical Officer at OGH and aspire to join as an Assistant Professor in a few years.”

Reflecting on the counselling process, she said: “A petition in the Telangana High Court resulted in an interim order directing the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS), Warangal, to extend all necessary services to transgender individuals.”

Elaborating on her branch preference during counselling, which included Dermatology, Psychiatry, Orthopaedics, and General Medicine, Dr. Prachi expressed contentment with Orthopaedics. Speaking to The Hindu about how the orthopaedics branch will be of help to the LGBTQIA+ community, Dr. Prachi shared that when a person undergoes hormonal replacement therapy, the bone density of that person gets affected which might lead to bone diseases. In that way, I can be of help to the community as well as the general public.”

Some of the other doctors in India belonging to the community are Dr. Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju who completed her MBBS in 2021 and Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, who is currently working as a Associate Professor of Community Medicine at Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi.