It’s a match! JJ Hospital helps trans women find their voice | Mumbai news
MUMBAI: Shazi Ansari, a 22-year-old trans woman from Delhi, spotted a news clipping last year – one that was life-changing. Not only is she pleased with her gender-affirming surgery but she also has a voice that truly matches her identity.
Ansari, who after gender-affirming surgery in 2022 was looking for viable options for trans-voice surgery, was led to JJ Hospital at Nagpada in Mumbai via the news clipping. The upshot was the surgery was free as the hospital had only just launched its Trans-Voice Surgery Department. Ansari was the government-run hospital’s first patient to undergo the surgery at the facility.
She said her bills for the gender-affirming surgery in a Delhi hospital went through the roof. “It would have cost an additional ₹1.20 lakh to get the voice I wanted. There weren’t many options in India but I’m glad I kept looking,” she said.
Of the options Ansari had explored, she was told that the surgery would either leave a scar; post-surgery there was a strong chance her voice would sound artificial; there was no guarantee of a voice change; or the cost was just too high.
Armed with the news clipping, Ansari arrived at JJ Hospital in July 2024 and was asked to wait as there were a few technicalities to be taken care of at their newly launched Trans-Voice Department. “Nevertheless, I was excited as I was about to get my desired voice, said Ansari, the first of only two patients to undergo the surgery since the department opened a year ago.
Ansari was subjected to a battery of tests by Dr Nupur Nerurkar, a specialist brought in by JJ Hospital to perform the surgery. “I finally got a call from the hospital on September 27 last year, asking me to get admitted. The operation was performed two days later. And I love the way I sound!”
Dr Nerurkar, an ENT surgeon with Bombay Hospital, specialises in Wendler Glottoplasty, a type of gender-affirming voice surgery for trans women. She is also one of 13 doctors from across the globe who established the International Association of TransVoice Surgeons. This surgery is required only in cases where a trans woman is assigned male at birth, says Dr Nerurkar. “This is because the estrogen boost does not change the voice. For trans men, a testosterone injection changes the voice to a deeper, male voice within six months,” Dr Nerurkar explained.
She said the pitch of the average adult male’s voice is 100 hertz, against 200 hertz for a female voice. “Patients usually ask about the ‘percentage of femininity’ their new voice will have. But a percentage cannot be given as it defers from person-to-person, depending on their vocal cords.”
Dr Pallavi Saple, dean of JJ Hospital, said the idea of introducing trans-voice surgery at the institution came from Dr Nerurkar. “JJ Hospital had an existing special transgender ward, so it made sense to open a trans-voice surgery department, with her expertise. We inaugurated it in March last year,” she said.
The department had to wait five months for its second patient to sign up. Sharvari Surve, 42, underwent the surgery in January 2025. “I approached Dr Nerurkar and she suggested getting it done at JJ Hospital as I had financial constraints.” Surve said she has a feminine voice now but is still undergoing voice therapy to achieve the desired pitch.
“Trans-voice surgery takes only about 90 minutes to perform and, at our hospital, it’s free. We need more awareness to increase footfalls,” said Dr Saple.
