Latest News | Hold Senior Medical Officers Accountable for Illegal Abortions: Haryana Health Dept to Officials
Get latest articles and stories on Latest News at LatestLY. Haryana's Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Sudhir Rajpal on Tuesday ordered strict surveillance of community health centres and instructed that accountability of senior medical officers (SMOs) be fixed in areas where illegal abortions are being reported.
Chandigarh, Jun 24 (PTI) Haryana's Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Sudhir Rajpal on Tuesday ordered strict surveillance of community health centres and instructed that accountability of senior medical officers (SMOs) be fixed in areas where illegal abortions are being reported.
In a specific case, he directed the officiating SMO of a community health centre in Bhiwani to be chargesheeted due to low sex ratio in his area.
Rajpal was chairing a weekly meeting here of the task force set up to improve sex ratio in Haryana.
The meeting focused on intensifying efforts to curb illegal abortions and further improve the state's sex ratio under the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign.
"The meeting highlighted the recent success of government initiatives: Haryana's sex ratio improved to 906 till June 23 this year, up from 902 in the corresponding period last year," according to an official statement.
The statement said the task force decided to chargesheet former Charkhi Dadri Chief Medical Officer Dr Rajvinder Malik for "persistent non-performance in duties related to sex ratio monitoring".
The registration of an AYUSH doctor in Sonipat was cancelled and FIR was lodged against him over illegal abortion practices, the meeting was informed by the officials.
During the meeting, Rajpal mandated intensified enforcement against illegal abortions, with a clear directive for officials to pursue strict punitive action, including cancellation of licence, for any doctors found involved in it.
He directed officials to intensify raids at ultrasound and medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) centres and also increase registration drives, where targeted interventions are required.
Further, the functioning of 'SAHELIs associated with pregnant women, especially those where incidents of abortions have been reported, will be closely monitored to ensure accountability.
Notably, to provide personalised support and monitoring, all pregnant women with one or more female children are being assigned an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) or Anganwadi worker as a 'Saheli (companion)' to counsel them and monitor their pregnancies.
To tackle illegal abortion activities, the health officials were directed to strengthen enforcement and intelligence-sharing mechanisms.
Rajpal also asked them to reverse track any woman arriving at a hospital with bleeding symptoms to determine whether she has consumed medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) pills. If any violation of the law is detected, legal action must be taken without delay, he directed.
The meeting was informed by the officials that during the past week, 28 inspections were conducted across the state over the illegal sale of MTP kits in which one shop was sealed and two FIRs were lodged.
The number of wholesalers selling MTP kits has been reduced from 32 to three within one and a half months in Haryana and the sale trend of MTP kits has seen a significant decline in 15 districts of the state, it was further informed.
He called for regular awareness campaigns to be organised in public parks and other community spaces, authorising the chief medical officers concerned to deploy officials for this purpose.
The officials were also instructed to identify SAHELIs who have played a key role in ensuring the successful delivery of girl children.
Such SAHELIs will be incentivised by the respective CMOs as a means to recognise their efforts and encourage broader community participation in this important cause.
Rippudaman Singh Dhillon, secretary (Health) and mission director (National Health Mission) and senior officers of various departments were present in the meeting.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)