Debshikha Santra’s provisional birth certificate, issued by Kharagpur Subdivisional Hospital in 2006, says the child is male. But his parents discovered soon after his birth that he had a female sex organ as well.

It has since been a struggle for 28-year-old Bishnupada Santra and wife Rupali, 20, in trying to cure the child’s disorder. Numerous visits to the state-run hospitals in the city, including SSKM, NRS and Medical College, did not help the couple, who had to sell 10 cottahs from their 15-cottah plot to raise funds for the expensive diagnostic tests.

“The doctors only look at the test reports and ask us to come back after a few months. I don’t know how long I will be able to afford our child’s treatment,” said Bishnupada, a farmer in West Midnapore’s Mahisamura village. His problems compounded when he lost his house to floods last year.

According to paediatricians, Debshikha is a girl suffering from a rare ailment called Turner Syndrome. One in 42,000 children suffer from the variation of the syndrome that afflicts Debshikha, said Apurba Ghosh, the director of the institute.

Counselling is a key component of the treatment of such children but the doctors in government hospitals hardly have the time to offer counselling. “The child’s gonads have to be surgically removed as soon as possible and positively before she reaches puberty. Otherwise there are high chances of malignant tumours developing,” added Ghosh.