With her PPE Kit on, Beoncy Laishram efficiently tends to patients infected with coronavirus in the isolation rooms at Imphal’s Shija Hospital and Research Centre and is a proud Covid warrior. At the age of 27, Beoncy is not just Manipur’s first transwoman doctor but also the first transgender doctor in the Northeast.
“I knew that I was not a boy when I was in Class 8 at HRD Academy of Imphal. However, I did not reveal my identity till I was in the third year of my MBBS,” Beoncy said. She added that she would wear unisex dresses like baggy pants with suspenders.
The journey from Kakwa Leiphrakpam Leikai in Imphal West to Shija Hospital hasn’t been an easy one for the youngest of the three siblings of the Laishram family. Her father, a bus driver, attempted to end his life when she broke the news to him. Beoncy’s elder brother also found it difficult to accept the reality.
“Friends were abusive, they taunted at me wherever I went. I withdrew into my closet to avoid the mental torture. It was a continuous struggle to establish my identity and make people accept it,” says Beoncy. Around 2016, I realised I could no longer live that life. It was then that I started identifying myself as a Nupi Maanbi,” added the young doctor.
Nupi Maanbis is the community of man-to-woman transgender subjects of Manipur.
In 2013 she changed her name to Beoncy when she took part in the Miss Trans Queen Northeast beauty pageant. After undergoing sex reassignment surgery in Puducherry, she established herself as a transwoman in the society which, till then, was hostile to her existence and professional achievements.
“The Nupi Mannbis of Manipur helped me a lot. I am preparing for my post-graduation in cosmetic surgery. I want to help the Nupi Mannbis,” added Beoncy.
After her stint at the Babu Jagjivanram Memorial Hospital in Delhi, she worked in the NEIGRIHMS, Shillong for one year as a junior resident doctor before she joined Shija Hospital at Imphal, Manipur as the resident medical officer.
“She is good at her work. We do not see her as a transwoman doctor. She is friendly to all and has been working hard with the COVID patients at the hospital” says Santa Khurai, a Manipuri transgender activist who leads the All Manipur Nupi Maanbi Association (AMANA).
Manipur, with its sizeable transgender population, is possibly India’s first state to set up a quarantine centre for the transgender community. The 40-bedded government facility was set up by the state health and family welfare department in coordination with the social welfare department at the Government Ideal Blind School in Takyelpat.
Beyonce, who is in a steady relationship, says that she has no plans of tying the knot anytime soon. “I need to focus in my studies and profession” the doctor said.
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