‘Miracle’ surgery spares father the imperative to re-marry

Ruqaya Bibi becomes Abdullah after sex-change procedure at Mianwali DHQ.

MIANWALI:

“I no longer need to re-marry,” says Muhammad Sharif, father of a girl who became a boy following a sex-change operation at Mianwali district headquarters (DHQ) hospital on Monday. 19-year-old Abdullah, earlier known as Ruqayya Bibi, was divorced a month ago after three years of marriage.

Sharif, a resident of Katcha Kamar Mashani area, said he no longer needed to re-marry as the ‘miracle’ had provided him with a male heir. He said earlier he had had four daughters, including Ruqayya, and his only son was mentally-challenged. “I had been thinking about re-marrying because I needed someone to carry the family name forward and to inherit my property,” he said, “But now I’ll arrange Abdullah’s marriage.”

Talking to The Tribune, Abdullah said he was excited about marrying as a man. “Three years ago, I was married as a bride. I would now marry as a groom.” He said he had been staying at his father’s house after being divorced a month ago.

Abdullah was discharged from the DHQ hospital on Thursday. Dr Rana Hafeezullah Khan, who performed the surgery, said he had recovered earlier than the doctors had expected. He said Abdullah was brought to him before Eid, then a woman, with severe pain in abdomen. He said on examining him and he found out that his anatomy was closer to a male than a female. He said he had told the family that Abdullah would continue to suffer severe pain unless a sex re-assignment surgery was performed.

Some elderly women from the neighbourhood who had accompanied the family to the hospital told The Express Tribune that throughout Ramazan Abdullah had been complaining about severe pain in his abdomen. “His father had initially refused to take him to a hospital,” one of them said. She said they had persuaded their husbands who then convinced Sharif to consult the DHQ hospital.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2011.