Parents Build India's Gender-Affirming Healthcare System

When your child calls from another city asking why they should keep living, you don't analyze or debate. You book the ticket and bring them home.

That 2016 phone call changed everything for Dr. Bela Sharma and Air Commodore Dr. Sanjay Sharma. Their daughter had been showing them who she really was since age two, draping herself in dupattas and referring to herself as "she." But like many parents, they didn't see the truth for nearly 20 years.

The signs were always there. At puberty, their child's emotional distress intensified, but adults around her dismissed it as typical teenage rebellion. One teacher noticed self-harm marks on her arms and told her to wear long sleeves so other students wouldn't be "influenced."

After that desperate phone call, the Sharmas made acceptance their priority. Understanding could come later. But when they searched for gender-affirming healthcare in Delhi, they hit wall after wall.

Colleagues told them it was "Western influence" or "internet disease." Some suggested thrashing their child into conformity. Others said this kind of care simply didn't exist in India and they'd need to go abroad.

The irony stung. How could gender-affirming care be impossible in a culture that worships Ardhanarishvara, celebrates Lord Vishnu's Mohini form, and tells stories of Lord Krishna becoming a woman to marry Aravan? India's ancient traditions celebrated gender diversity, yet modern healthcare had erased it completely.

By 2018, their daughter completed her transition. She could finally live without fear or judgment, seeing her true self reflected back in the mirror instead of a stranger.

The Ripple Effect

The Sharmas refused to let other families face the same impossible search. They founded ATHI, a nonprofit dedicated to building gender-affirmative healthcare systems across India. What started as one family's desperate need became a lifeline for countless others.

ATHI trains medical professionals, educates families, and creates the infrastructure that should have existed all along. The organization transforms the landscape of transgender healthcare in a country where ancient wisdom once embraced what modern medicine had forgotten.

Their daughter's 20-year journey to womanhood sparked a movement that's rewriting the future for transgender individuals across India.