Transgender denied Nursing Admission: Human Rights Commission intervenes

Chennai: The transgender medical aspirant, who is fighting for months against the medical admissions system for denying her admission in nursing course stating that this course is applicable for females only; has received exclusive support from the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission (SHRC).

In her support, the State Human Rights Commission has held that failure on the part of the state to provide reservation to this gender would amount to the human rights violation.

In March, Medical Dialogues had reported about the case of the nursing course candidate, S Tamilselvi, who, after a month of joining, was ousted from a private nursing college at Vellore since the college offers admissions to female candidates alone for the diploma in nursing.

Tamilselvi, born as a male, realized her preferred sexual orientations later. It was then that she decided to change her name. Having passed her plus two board with 757 marks in 2013, she underwent a sex reassignment surgery in 2015. Having paid Rs. 30,000 from her savings with immense difficulty, this admirable young girl got herself admitted to Arun School of Nursing, Vellore last year.

However, she was jolted into reality when her admission was cancelled after the Directorate told the college “only female candidates are eligible to apply for Diploma in Nursing courses.”

“I was so happy to wear nurse uniform, my college and classmates accepted me. I thought my sufferings finally came to an end. But, that dream was short-lived. After one month of admission, the college received a letter from the selection committee, Directorate of Medical Education, saying only female candidates are eligible to apply for the Diploma in Nursing course,” the student had stated.

According to a DME official, the Tamil Nadu Nursing Council has to register all students joining nursing courses. The registration form has no separate column for transgender. Since the columns speak of male and female sexes for students, the college was asked to clarify.

The student, who met Health Secretary, J Radhakrishnan and Director of Medical Education, A Edwin Joe, got relief and was encouraged to continue the nursing course under the female category. However, that was not to last long as the Directorate again intervened.

Read Also: Nursing college disallows transgender to take admission for Female only course

Disappointed with the inaction, the nursing student moved the Madras high court, which directed the state to admit her to the course. But, she was again denied admission.

Pointing to the 2014 order of the Supreme Court, which directed the Central and State Governments to extend reservation to transgenders in education and employment, the complainant stated that the denial of admission amounted to the human rights violation.

Speaking to TOI, the commission pointed out that the state had not set aside a quota for transgenders but only made a concession of eligibility for MBC quota.

“The state neglecting transgender category by not providing a separate reservation amounts to a violation of human rights of the complainant,” the commission added.

Taking consideration of the crucial issue that is bothering many of the medical aspirants, the State Human Rights Commission has extended its support to the nursing medico.

TOI adds that the SHRC member D Jayachandran also directed the government to allot a seat to S Tamilselvi as a special case in the Diploma in Nursing course conducted by the Government Vellore Medical College for the academic year 2018-19.