MYSURU: Thanks to fear of
Covid-19, the
state health and
family welfare department has been forced to suspend two camps that resonated with people in rural areas, especially at the hobli level in
Mysuru district: Cataract surgeries and
birth control procedures such as tubal ligation,
vasectomy and
IUCD (intra-uterine contraceptive device) insertions.
The department suspended these drives/ camps when the
pandemic broke seven months ago for an indefinite period and although there is a huge demand, especially from rural women folk, to restart these camps now that Covid cases are falling, health department authorities are still wary.
The demand for birth control procedures was so robust that the state health department was conducting camps twice a month at community-level health centres. The health department’s annual report states that in 2018-19, a total 2.8 lakh sterilizations were carried out across the state and 1.3 lakh IUCDs inserted.
But now that that the drives have stopped, doctors working in primary healthcare centres and taluk health officers say enquiries are growing by the day.
“In private health facilities, these procedures are very expensive,” doctors said. “So we get calls every day from people wanting to know when these camps will reopen. They are putting pressure on us through Asha workers also.”
One doctor said, “In villages, family planning procedures like tubal ligation [getting the tubes tied as it is commonly referred to] are very popular compared to other birth control methods. But since Covid-19 is raging, it is not easy to resume these camps or procedures.”
Dr Ravi Kumar, HD Kote taluk health officer, said the department released SoPs for both sterilisation camps and cataract surgeries. “We wanted some clarifications. We will soon relaunch the camps,” he said.
Health department officials say following SoPs is a challenge. “The SoPs mentions only limited procedures and patients in a day, Covid-19 test, etc. It is not possible due to the backlog. So, we have sought clarifications on these SoPs,” said senior official.
Dr T Amarnath, Mysuru district health officer, admitted that he is aware of the demand, but insisted that the procedures were not full halted. He said some underwent these procedures in hospitals during the past seven months, although they weren’t many. He promised to relaunch the camps. “We conducted only a few procedures due to Covid-19, but we will resume them on a full-scale in a few days.”