Sterilised women left in the lurch

Parigi: International women’s day come and go, but it seems there is no change in the fate of women, especially the innocent rural womenfolk. 

We hear of two women sharing one bed in labour wards of government hospitals. Also there were instances of women along with their new-born sleeping on the floor in the labour wards for want of additional beds. 

The state government on one hand promoting institutional deliveries in government hospitals and on the other, there is no improvement in infrastructural amenities. 
Here is an example of callous treatment meted out to women who have undergone sterilisations at Community Health Center in Parigi of Vikarabad district. 

At the health center, medical officers conducted family planning surgeries on 50 of the 72 registered women on Monday. For want of additional beds, the operated women were forced to take shelter under the trees in the health center’s campus risking their lives. 
When such medical camps are conducted, it was customary to raise at least a tent or two on the premises, but apparently there were no such signs visible. 

Women along with their children were seen lying on the floor exposed to heat and dust. 
Even to stand for a few minutes to catch a bus, bus shelters are built. How can the hospital and government authorities be so insensitive to the travails of the sterilised women leaving them to their fate exposing them to sun, heat, dust, stray dogs and pigs?  

Whether there is successful implementation of Swachh Bharat or not, it is not advisable to make the patients, and also their young ones, sleep on floor amidst filthy surroundings. It will put the whole medical community at shame. There is every danger of the operated women developing post-operative allergies and other risks upon exposure to heat and dust.
 
Moreover, the sun is beating harsh nowadays even before bidding adieu to the winter. If anything were to happen in the form of sunstroke to the patients and their young ones or if a stray dog runs away catching one of the babies with its teeth who would be held responsible? 

Can a government keen on approaching the electorate for the 2019 elections afford to ignore women’s votes?

Irrespective of the electoral prospects of the present regime, no well-meaning citizen of the state would approve of the practice of leaving the operated women in the lurch throwing the post-operative care to the winds. Whether the sterilisations are a simple technique or a complicated procedure, certainly it is not the way to treat the operated upon patients.

It may be recalled that the Niti Ayog had ranked Telangana State no. 12 position, five ranks behind AP, slipping away two ranks behind the last year’s rank.  Last year, as far as health index is concerned Telangana was ranked number 10, and AP was ranked nine. 

By Mohammad Wajid