Times of India: Mumbai: Monday, December 28, 2015.
Over a
hundred women in the state have died while undergoing medical termination of
pregnancy (MTP) in the past six years, an RTI query has revealed. The deaths
have raised serious concern over the access and availability of safe abortion
for women in rural areas, particularly in the second trimester.
The RTI query
by activist Chetan Kothari to the family welfare department shows that 114
women in the state died during or after undergoing MTP at a registered centre
between 2010 and 2015 (October). It is estimated that over 3 lakh women in the
state undergo MTP annually. Activists say the figure is just the tip of the
iceberg as abortions and related deaths go largely unreported.
For 2015-16,
statistics show that five women have died till October, while in the last two
financial years, 15 deaths were reported each year. The scenario was worse
between 2010 and 2012 with 27 and 35 deaths at registered centres alone.
An state
government audit of all maternal deaths, including those during MTPs, has found
three main causes for the deaths. "Those are delay in decision-making,
transporting and intervention. Mostly, it is the husband or in-laws, not the
woman, who decides about terminating the pregnancy, often causing a fatal
delay," said assistant director Dr N D Deshmukh from the directorate of
health services. In most cases, he said, women come with pre-existing
complications and succumb at these centres.
Therefore,
the state claims to have equipped even primary and rural health centres to
increase access to skilled doctors. Activists, however, allege that such
initiatives exist only on paper. "There are no gynaecologists in rural
areas to provide basic delivery services, leave alone MTP," said Dr Arun
Gadre, a Nashik-based retired gynaecologist who is now into health advocacy.
"The load ultimately comes on district hospitals, where not many women can
afford to commute," he said, explaining why an overwhelming number of
women prefer a midwife or quack in the village. "Often botched abortions
lead to excessive bleeding, infections and ultimately death," he added.
Access to
safe abortions has also taken a huge beating since the state's crackdown on
sex-selective MTPs. "Skilled doctors are afraid to conduct abortion in the
second trimester, fearing coercive action if the child happens to be a
girl," said Pritam Potdar of NGO Samyak that works for the rights of urban
poor women. Gadre added that over-dependence on MTP pills in the first
trimester, often without medical supervision, also leads to many complications.
Head of
gynaecology at JJ Hospital, Dr Rekha Davar, said that many women have come to
hospital in a critical condition after attempting an unsuccessful medical MTP
(with pills) and required emergency blood transfusion or surgical evacuation.
She, however, said that MTP deaths are on a decline.
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