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Open camps for Sterilisation

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February 19, 2017

Why in news?

  • Over 27 months after 13 women died and 65 took ill at a State-run mass sterilisation camp in Chhattisgarh.
  • Following this, the State government has now discontinued all sterilisation services.

What was the recent move?

  • Open camps were discontinued.
  • The doctor who performed the surgeries has been terminated and representatives of the pharmaceutical company which supplied the medicines are in jail.
  • These moves are taken as per the recommendations of a judicial commission headed by retired district judge Anita Jha

What is the effect of it?

  • Health facilities, including district hospitals have also stopped sterilisations.
  • Instead of providing quality sterilisation services in the aftermath of so many deaths, the government has responded by discontinuing the services.
  • As a result of discontinuing them, women have turned to private clinics for family planning.
  • It costs around Rs. 8,000- 10,000.
  • Those who couldn’t afford are required to go to neighbouring Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
  • Tribal areas have suffered the most.
  • Since the discontinuation of open camps, sterilisation rates in Chhattisgarh for both men and women have dropped drastically.

What should be done?

  • It has been a long-standing demand of the health movement in India that open camps be discontinued.
  • However, they have to be replaced by adequate facilities at CHCs and district hospitals.
  • It needs to be accompanied by awareness on male contraceptive methods such as condom use and vasectomy.
  • Family planning is equally a men’s issue.
  • But currently there is no stress or campaign on male contraception.
  • The government does not persuade men into sterilisation the way it does for women.
  • The tragedy in Chhattisgarh was a wakeup call.
  • It showed that there is high demand, especially among women, despite bad quality services.
  • Therefore government should respond by providing quality services to men and women, rather than withdrawing the existing services.

 

Source: The Hindu

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