Call to ensure right of girl-child to life

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JULY 14.

`Jyotsna-2001', a South Zone conference of the Obstetric and Gynaecological Society of India, organised here by its Hyderabad branch, got off to a start with a call to ensure safe abortions and treat every maternal death as a human rights issue.

Calling upon doctors to strictly ban sex determination and sex choice tests, Dr.Kamini Rao, president of the all India federation, asked them here on Saturday to ensure the right of the girl-child to life and attaining womanhood.

Though the Act of Medical Termination of Pregnancies was introduced in 1971 to ensure safe and legal abortions, illegal abortions had only grown due to various factors, she said. Registration of MTP centres in large numbers had not taken place and the Government must recognise the need for them, she added.

Unsafe abortions must be prevented at any cost and all medical practitioners should rededicate themselves against illegal abortions, she said. Dr.Kamini Rao said the organisation was negotiating with the Government for some kind of legal protection to medical practitioners and an insurance scheme might come into effect before the year-end, she said.

The organisation would shortly distribute relevant literature to the doctors on the subject of MTP. The technical strength of the organisation was recently recognised by the Government and was making it a party in negotiations on important medical issues relating to the field, she added.

Dr.Pushp Bhargava, former director of the CCMB, urged the meet to concentrate on educating the `daayis' (midwives) who performed more than 75 per cent of deliveries on modern methods for the safety of both the mothers and the children.

He said the profession should keep in mind three important aspects - changing technology, rapid developments which were creating the possibility of man becoming a surrogate and infertility - which would become great challenges. Adoptability to the demands would be necessary, he said. He warned of the possibility of India having 10 million HIV positive cases by 2010 as there was a continuous stream of new cases unlike in other developed countries.

Dr.S.Aruna, Minister for Health, who could not attend the meet, in her message said safe abortion was the need of the hour. The Government was seriously taking up AIDS control programme, she said and explained the schemes for the welfare of mother and child.

Dr.P.V.Saraschandrika, chairperson of the conference, explained the programmes undertaken by the Hyderabad unit of the society.

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