From female to male, a costly tale

By A.G.Wickremasinghe

A woman who underwent a sex change and became a male is battling to cope with the additional medical expenses incurred while maintaining her daughter and making necessary changes including getting a new identity card to adjust for a new phase in life.

Speaking to Kandy Times, Renuka Udayangani now Renuka Udayakumara related the experiences she had to undergo during the past few years.“I was born on April 19, 1973 in the village called Mahawatte. I studied up to Std. 6 at Mahawatte MMV. Financial constraints put an end to my studies and in due course, I got married on January 10, 1992. After I bore a child I observed signs of a sex change in me,” she said.

“My husband left me as a consequence and I started to work in areas outside my village, wearing shirt and trouser. I am now 34 and I work at a cleaning centre attached to the National Hospital. While coming to work I met with an accident in April this year and was warded in a male ward,’’ Udayakumara said.

“It was while I was in the ward that the hitherto guarded secret about the sex change was disclosed,” she said. Udayakumara has to visit the clinic fortnightly and stay over for four days. She has to spend around Rs. 5000 on drugs per month. “I have no house to live in and my daughter stays with the grandmother,” Udayakumara said.

Because of the sex change her national identity card is no longer valid and Udayakumara has to wait for a medical report due to be issued at the end of this year, to apply for a new identity card. Udayakumara has made an entry with the Balagalla police and made an application to the Kundasale PS for a new identity card.

Udayakumara says that as medical attention was needed every two weeks he cannot take up a permanent job and the immediate worry is the school going daughter who is due to sit the G.C.E.(O/L) exam next year.Udayakumara has appealed for assistance enabling him to open a bank account to meet his medical costs as well as his daughter’s education.