Maharashtra: First step for Beed cop’s ‘male’ journey

At around 8.30 am on Friday, a team of four plastic surgeons began Genital Reconstructive Surgery (GRS) on Beed constable Lalit(a) Salve in Mumbai. Salve, born a woman, has always identified as a man and is undergoing a series of sex-reaffirming surgeries to become one physically.

The first step in the direction has been successful, and the next surgery is slotted six months later. The only risk, say doctors, is that of Salve developing skin infection.

Dr Rajat Kapoor lead Friday’s surgery at St George Hospital in which a tube was inserted into Salve’s urinary bladder so that he can urinate like a man. 

“In the first stage,” says Dr Kapoor, “We tried to change the appearance of the genitals and method of passing urine. The base for constructing a conduit has bee made. In three to six months, we will do another surgery, after which he will be able to urinate like a man.”