AHMEDABAD: If a pregnancy after a failed sterilisation procedure wasn’t enough, a mother of five from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district was not offered timely abortion too, resulting in the birth of a disabled sixth child. A court recently ordered authorities to pay her around Rs 3.4 lakh compensation with interest, besides Rs 1,500 monthly maintenance till the child turns 18.
The woman, a resident of Kalol’s Sherisa village, will also get Rs 10,000 towards mental agony and Rs 5,000 for legal expenses. The amount will be paid with 6% interest by the health officer of the primary health centre, district health officer, health commissioner and district collector. In February 2007, Premila Thakor opted for a sterilisation operation. To her dismay, however, she conceived for the sixth time.
She approached the Hajipur PHC for an abortion but was redirected to a private facility which sought Rs 9,000 for terminating the pregnancy. Unable to afford the fee, she gave birth to a son with disability. She sued the medical officer at Hajipur PHC, the district health officer, health commissioner and district collector along with an insurance company that was liable to pay Rs 30,000 in case of failed sterilisation.
Premila told the court that because of the pregnancy, she had to suffer mental stress and physical pain, and demanded Rs 1,500 monthly maintenance to raise her son till he turns 18, besides Rs 5 lakh compensation towards doctors’ negligence. The court refused to believe authorities’ claim that the pregnancy was at an advanced stage. It added that the disabled child wouldn’t have been born if the defendants had terminated the unwanted pregnancy timely.