Delhi government to investigate 'gay cure' racket: Health Minister acts after Mail Today finds doctors offering electric shock treatment to 'turn gay men straight'

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The Mail Today exposé on the business of so-called 'cures' for gay men and women, an unethical practice in which a section of Delhi’s doctors are indulging, has triggered an avalanche of public outrage.

Taking serious note of the report, Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Kumar Jain has promised that the issue will be investigated and the guilty punished. 

“We will surely investigate the matter and the doctors found guilty would not be spared,” Jain told Mail Today on Wednesday.

Unimpressed: Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Kumar Jain said guilty doctors would not be spared  

“Such cases are reported mostly to the Medical Council of India. On Wednesday, we had an Assembly session. But we will get to the bottom of it,” he said. 

The report, which was published first in Wednesday’s edition of Mail Today, had brought to light the details of conversion therapy. 

Mail Today broke the story of Delhi doctors offering to 'straighten' gay people

It is a highly discredited practice which includes giving electric shocks or nausea-inducing drugs, prescribing testosterone, or using 'talking therapy' with the aim of turning homosexuals into heterosexuals in a matter of months. 

The therapy is stoutly condemned by mainstream health regulatory bodies, both in India and abroad, because of its potentially devastating effects on the lives of gay individuals. 

International health agencies, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), regard homosexuality as a normal variation of human sexuality. 

As part of the investigation, Mail Today had visited various clinics — some of them located in posh South Delhi areas — and interviewed doctors who promised a “total cure” for homosexuality. These doctors were initially approached posing as worried relatives of a gay individual, seeking treatment for homosexuality, while candidly recording the interaction on camera. 

The doctors were then approached again, this time confronting them as journalists, with the evidence and information about their unethical treatment practices gathered during the first interview. 

The real shock came when some of the doctors interviewed for the story brazenly defended their treatment practices, citing the “growing number” of people who regularly approach them in search for a cure for homosexuality, and reeled out anecdotal examples of “successful cases”, though without furnishing evidence to back their claims. 

The LGBT community has reacted strongly to the report and has demanded action against the doctors

Dr Vinod Raina of ‘Safe Hands’, for instance, stuck to his claim that he has successfully 'cured' hundreds of homosexuals (though he had claimed to have cured over 1,000 homosexuals in the initial interview) in the past 15 years of his medical practice. 

The doctors (above) defended their treatment practices, citing the 'growing number' of people who approach them

He continued to maintain that homosexuality is basically a “hormonal imbalance” and patients who have the “determination and will-power to get treated” can be cured in just four-five months. 

“We take blood samples of the patients and carry out all hormone tests. If there is an imbalance, we work on it. We then work on carbohydrates, vitamins, protein and all other substances that are related to stress disorders and tell the patients to improve lifestyle medications,” Dr Raina said. 

Dr Nagendra Kumar of Radha Poly Clinic in Mahipalpur, who had prescribed Oleanz 5 mg, a tablet for treating a number of mental disorders even though it can cause serious side-effects such as seizures, changes in vision and breathing difficulty, also stuck to his stand on homosexuality. 

Claiming that it is an addiction like alcoholism, he tried to justify prescribing the powerful anti-psychotic drug on the pretext that it was imperative since the patient was unwilling to meet the doctor. 

Attempts to reconnect with Dr P.K. Gupta, consultant senior sexologist at Dr P.K. Gupta’s Super Speciality Clinic in Karol Bagh (who had described homosexuality as a mental and genetic disorder), and Dr. S.K. Jain of Karol Bagh-based Burlington Ayurvedic Clinic (who had promised a cure for homosexuality without any side effects), proved unsuccessful despite approaching their respective clinic staff for an appointment. 

Dr Gupta refused to respond to even an email request. 

Dr S.P. Singh, resident sexologist at Dr Dilbag Clinic in Uttam Nagar, which advertises a cure for homosexuality in just a month for as little as Rs 2,100 and describes it as the root cause of many “complicated diseases” in future life, also stuck to his anti-homosexuality stand. 

“Homosexuality is a (type of) perversion. It can be treated in both men and women. With the usage of homeopathic medicines, the desires become normal and towards natural conditions,” he said.

Celebs and activists slam 'unethical' doctors 

Following the Mail Today exposé, celebrities, activists and lawyers were swift to condemn the unethical Delhi doctors who promised a cure for homosexuality, with some bluntly asking the doctors to educate themselves first.

Noted fashion designer Suneet Varma challenged the medics to prove the validity of their claims by turning a heterosexual into a homosexual. 

“If they are so confident in turning a homosexual into a heterosexual, they should also be able to turn a heterosexual into a homosexual,” said Varma. 

“Doctors have an extremely responsible role to play in society, but instead, they are embezzling patients with the wrong advice,” he said.

He added that these doctors are taking advantage of both society's and families' fear and insecurities on homosexuality. 

“Let these doctors go back to their medical schools and educate themselves,” he added. 

LGBT rights activist Ashok Row Kavi wanted the medical malpractice of conversion therapy prosecuted in a court of law. 

“It is a criminal act. It is not allowed under any medical practice and is prohibited in the whole of Europe. We are seeing a lot of young males being subjected to electric shock treatment in Mumbai,” said Kavi. 

Anjali Gopalan, chief of Naz Foundation and LGBT rights activist, wanted the Medical Council of India to take swift action against the unethical doctors. 

“We are going to petition the MCI tomorrow,” she said. 

“It is unfortunate even after so many incidents, they are doing nothing against the doctors,” said Gopalan. 

She said it is equally important for parents to understand that homosexuality is a natural thing, the same as heterosexuality.