The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Doctor on a mission

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 27, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Doctor on a mission

Nagesh Prabhu

M. Ramakrishna Reddy

BANGALORE: M. Ramakrishna Reddy of Bangalore has created a record in family planning by performing 1,61,061 laparoscopic sterilisations in 4,621 camps, with an immaculate record of safety.

Dr. Reddy, obstetrician, gynaecologist and a population scientist, has been an outstanding participant in the national programme of family planning for over two decades. He has worked in 16 districts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and conducted 1,61,061 laparoscopic sterilisations, 309 mini-lap tubectomies and 91 vasectomies. This is the largest "documentation work" by an individual in the field of family planning.

Dr. Reddy told The Hindu that has adapted and perfected the double puncture laparoscopic sterilisation technique for camp sterilisation, which is simple and painless. "It is very attractive to the women in rural areas as reflected in the steady turnout of acceptors at my camps over decades." As a painless procedure, it allows the acceptors to return to normal routine within a few hours without incapacitation or hospitalisation, he says.

Dr. Reddy introduced the laparoscopic sterilisation method in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh in 1986. The culturally acceptable attributes of this method, which is crucial to the success of any programme, has gained popularity among rural women, in Anantapur, Prakasam and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh in the 1990s.

Born in 1945 in a village of Srinivaspura taluk in Kolar district, Dr. Reddy obtained MBBS degree from Bangalore University in 1972. He has participated in a number of national and international conferences, published books and received several awards. He received the first Karnataka Family Welfare State Award for Best Private Laparoscopic Surgeon in 1985.

He has conducted 61,952 laparoscopic sterilisations in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh alone.

In Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, he conducted 34,121 sterilisations, 22, 528 in Kozhikode district of Kerala, 9,841 in Bangalore Rural district, 8,408 sterilisations in Mandya district.

He is a member of the Technical Committee of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and visiting professors to a few institutions and universities and member of many national and international bodies. He was involved in providing training to panchayat members on public health in the State.

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