You waited to be financially stable enough to make sure you can go through with your HRT. But now, you are worried that your employer can come between you and your Hormone Replacement Therapy. Well, the simple answer is, No.
What do the guidelines say?
Dr Pramila Kalra talks about this, as a lot of us are worried this might happen to us. “As per the guidelines and as per govt rules they cannot.” So, no your employers cannot stop you from starting your HRT.
What is the reality?
Oftentimes, we have seen that the guidelines aren’t followed and the reality is different. Dr Kalra also agrees with this and brings up the fact that “The problem is that India is a vast country and there are many people who do not understand this. So the thing is we do see a lot of our patients facing discrimination at their workplace which is very unfortunate but it does happen.”
Is there a solution?
A lack of awareness ensures that people will have a difficult time understanding what you are going through. Dr Kalra has seen this happen to a lot of her patients and she assures that sometimes, talking can help. “So the thing is you have to go and talk to them. You have to go and take the people who understand your thing into confidence. And maybe you have to take some higher authorities in your field to talk to them because you need to talk to the people. If you talk to them and explain to them then it can be sorted out. It has to be sorted out first rather than going out and fighting because there are people who don’t know about it and there are people who don’t even understand about it. So all of a sudden their reaction will be like what you are expecting but that’s, not the right reaction as per law. They cannot do discrimination against you as per law.”
The law is on my side, so why?
A lot of us are tired of making other people understand our side of things but it is essential for us to get identified as who we are. Dr Kalra also adds that “the law may not always be there, there may be people who may not follow or understand so we have to talk, we have to have a solution for it. As for this, don’t go and fight. Give time to them because people need time to understand. Once they understand they know that this is not something which is out of the blue. This is something that exists in our society, only they didn’t know about it. “