aarogya.com
  • Home
  • Complementary Medicine
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Naturopathy
    • Acupressure
    • Acupuncture
    • Aromatherapy
    • Batch Flower Remedies
    • Home Remedies
    • Massage
    • Yoga
    • Meditation
    • Reiki
    • Bodywork
    • Medical Palmistry
  • Conditions & Diseases
    • Acute Diarrheal Disease
    • Appendicitis
    • Blindness
    • Brucellosis
    • Chicken Pox
    • Conjunctivitis
    • Dysentery
    • Hookworm
    • Japanese Encephalitis
    • Lymphatic Filariasis
    • Plague
    • Rubella
    • Typhoid Fever
    • Yellow Fever
    • Allergy
    • Arthritis
    • Blood Pressure
    • Computer Health Hazards
    • Chikungunya Fever
    • Dengue
    • Guinea Worm
    • Influenza
    • Leprosy
    • Malaria
    • Poliomyelitis
    • Tetanus
    • Whooping Cough
    • Viral Hepatitis
    • Amebiasis
    • Asthma
    • Bronchitis
    • Diagnostic Tests
    • Cholera
    • Diphtheria
    • Hepatitis
    • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    • Leptospirosis
    • Measles
    • Rabies
    • Tuberculosis
    • Yaws
  • Family Health
    • Children's Health
    • Diet & Nutrition
    • First Aid
    • Fitness
    • Humor & Trivia
    • Men's Health
    • Preventive Health
    • Senior's Health
    • Senior Citizen Corner
    • Teen’s Health
    • Vets and Pets
    • Women’s Health
  • Health Resources
    • Blood Donation
    • Career Opportunities
    • Daily Health Tips
    • Health Programs
    • Featured Hospitals
    • Medical Education
    • Health Professional's Negligence
    • Medical Tourism
    • Video Eye
    • Rural Health
    • Patients' Rights Forum
  • Insurance
    • Euthanasia
    • Health Insurance
    • Health Insurance Policies
    • Insurance Companies
    • Medical Ethics
    • Medical Jurisprudence
    • Research
    • Telemedicine
    • Compare Health Insurance
  • Sex & Sexuality
    • What is Sex & Sexuality?
    • FAQs
    • Marriage & Pregnancy
    • Sex Education
  • Support Groups
    • Addiction
    • Aids
    • Cancer
    • Epilepsy
    • Swine Flu
    • Blood Search
    • Vivah
    • Health Directory
    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Medical Support Groups
    • Cardiology
    • Depression
    • Depression Screening Test
    • Diabetes
    • Disability
    • Kidney
    • Obesity
    • Pregnancy
    • Schizophrenia
    • Vitiligo
Aarogya.com
Marathi | Gujarati | Register | Login
  • Home
  • News and Updates
  • Year 2011
  • Should Doctors Click Foetuses to Save Girl Child?

Should Doctors Click Foetuses to Save Girl Child?

  • Print
Details
Hits: 6315
Times of India
21 October 2011
By Sanjeev Shivadekar
Maharashtra, India

Maharashtra Govt Under Fire For Proposing That All Doctors Be Made To Take Photographs Of Foetuses After Abortion
Should Doctors Click Foetuses to Save Girl Child?
In a desperate bid to check female foeticide and arrest the falling child sex ratio, the Maharashtra government is recommending to the Centre to make it mandatory for doctors to click digital images of foetuses after abortion. The proposal horrified medical experts, who called it misplaced and a violation of women’s privacy.

The suggestion came from a high-powered nine-member committee appointed to recommend changes in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act.

“We need to take deterrent steps to curb the declining child sex ratio. A digital photo of the foetus is one of the measures suggested by the committee in its report to save the girl child,” said Dr Sanjay Oak, the panel’s head and the dean of KEM Hospital. Among the committee’s other recommendations is to allow over-the-counter sale of abortion drugs.

The idea behind the digital image proposal, government officials said, is that a database of these pictures would allow the authorities, every few months, to identify the doctors aborting more female foetuses. But for many medical experts, it is an infringement of a woman’s privacy.

A committee member who opposed the proposal, A L Sharda, told TOI: “Six of the nine panel members are against having digital pictures of foetuses. The move will not address the issue of falling child sex ratio. Quite the opposite, it would create more problems for women and push them towards illegal abortion centres.”

The committee was formed following a sharp decline in the state’s child sex ratio. According to the 2011 census, child sex ratio in Maharashtra is 833 girls (under the age of 6) to 1,000 boys. A decade ago, the figure was 913 per 1,000 boys. The national average today stands at 914.

Besides Oak, the panel had doctors, government officials and NGO workers as members. Early this week, its report—compiled by Oak—was submitted to public health minister Suresh Shetty.

“The suggestions will be forwarded to the government of India, which is in the process of making changes to the existing Pre-Natal Diagnostics Test (Prevention) Act and MTP rules,” Shetty said. “It is the Union government that has to take the call on the issue.”

Sana Contractor, research officer, Cehat, said it was unclear if more documentation on abortions would check sex-selective abortion. “Finding that a female foetus was aborted does not mean the abortion was sex-selective. Secondly, all second trimester abortions are not sex selective.”

Contractor added that the existing MTP rule, which demands two doctors’ signatures before an abortion is carried out in the second trimester, is a good law, if implemented effectively. “Instead of new recommendations, it will help in controlling abortion after second trimester if existing rules are followed.”

Oak said the digital image suggestion could be implemented by “conducting an audit of abortion centres’ records every three months”. “We may come across some flaw while implementing the new rules. But that can be rectified.”

Times View
Maharashtra’s missing girls are a matter of grave concern. Over the last few decades, fewer girls were born here than boys, thanks mainly to the male child preference predominant in the society. Against this backdrop, the government seems to be doing the right thing by discussing and working out ways to check the skewed child sex ratio. But the suggestions cannot be blind to other realities. Care has to be taken to ensure that the woman’s right to abortion as well as privacy are intact at every stage.

Moreover, instead of piecemeal measures, there is a need for a comprehensive plan that includes economic and social incentives to save the girl child.

Out of Focus
If accepted, this is how the digital image proposal will work
  • Immediately after carrying out an abortion, doctors have to click digital pictures of the foetus and file them in their records
  • Every three months, the government would audit these abortion records
  • After studying the records on district level, the authorities will prepare a report and forward it to the health department
  • On the basis of the reports, the government will identify areas where sex-selective abortions are rampant. Accordingly, an action plan will be devised and implemented

Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.

0
Introducing Digital Practice for Doctors & Healthcare professionals
Swine Flu
National Award for Outstanding achievement by a Non-Professional - Tushar Sampat
Health Professional's Negligence
Health Professional's Negligence
Records of published articles in the newspapers helps common people about precautions to be taken while seeking the services from health professionals and also helps health professionals to rectify the negligence.
read more…
Specialties
Common Symptoms


Aarogya Network

aarogya.com aims to be India’s leading comprehensive health information portal. The site has sections, which cover almost all the medical specialties and give useful information on various diseases. To enhance its reach, the content is available in Indian languages too. We were the first health website to introduce online support groups. Addiction support and Epilepsy support are examples of some very active and vibrant communities.

» Click here to see all our support groups

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

 Get health related new information.

Pune Aarogya
Digital Media Dedicated to Healthcare of Punekars

Health Tools

  • Health Directory
  • Message Board
  • Health Calculators
  • Depression Screening Test

About Aarogya.com

aarogya.com aims to be India’s leading comprehensive health information portal. The site has sections, which cover almost all the medical specialties

Read more...

Suggestions

This is YOUR site, so if you have suggestions or feedback on how we can improve it for you, please let us know! We do our best to keep up!

Read more...

User Comments

“My name is Paulette Conners and I just had to send you an email thanking you since one of the pages on your site was very helpful!”

  • About Us
  • Company Profile
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Feedback
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap
  • Invite Your Friends

© 2017 www.aarogya.com. All Rights Reserved.